PREVIEW: Women’s Lacrosse debuts at Shorter on Saturday

ROME, Ga. — The Catawba College women's lacrosse team faces off with Shorter to open its 2025 season on Saturday afternoon.

Key Returners

- Head coach Caitlyn Corace returns her top seven point-scorers led by Abby Shuren who burst onto the scene with 28 goals in her freshman year

- Helena Cronemiller found the twine 14 times – striking on 46.7% of her shots – and dished out a team-high nine assists in addition to 21 ground balls that paced the attacking corps

- Controlling 53 draws in 2024, Sarah Maier brings seniority to the midfield after also bagging 22 points, 16 caused turnovers, and 18 ground balls

- Junior Mary Sorvillo is coming off her second consecutive 22-point campaign while corralling 32 ground balls with 16 caused turnovers

- Everyday starters Madison Shaffer and Audrey Adelsberger return to the defensive zone after combining for 27 caused turnovers and gathering 35 ground balls a season ago

Nine Newcomers

- Eight true freshmen and one transfer enter the lineup for 2025 to replace six departures from last season's group

- Three rookies hail from the Tar Heel State in Emily Better (Charlotte), Emily Bothoff (Wilmington) and Ava Kunza (Wilmington); Bothoff and Kunza were teammates on a dominant Laney team that went 15-3 in their senior season

- Goalie Madison Talmage transfers in from Gardner-Webb where she appeared twice for the Division I Runnin' Bulldogs, receiving a medical redshirt to join Catawba with four years of eligibility

Preseason No. 9

- Catawba was projected to finish ninth in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll released in January, three spots away from making the postseason cut and ranking above Mars Hill, Coker, and Emory & Henry

- Finishing with a 2-8 SAC ledger last season, the blue and white finished ninth in the 11-team league as Coker did not field a team in 2024

- Maier and Sorvillo were selected to the Preseason All-SAC Second Team thanks to their strong seasons in both scoring and defense

Away 'til March

- Team 14 starts the campaign on the road for four consecutive games over a two-week period

- The Catawba Indians were scheduled to play five straight away games prior to the cancellation of the Feb. 22 matchup at Lees-McRae

- Following the trip to Shorter, Catawba is back in the Carolinas for non-conference challenges at Belmont Abbey and Southern Wesleyan

- The blue and white open SAC play at Tusculum before returning home for its first contest at Shuford Stadium against Gannon on Mar. 5

All-Time Series

- Catawba and Shorter are slated to meet for the second time

- The first tilt occurred in Rome a decade ago on Feb. 14, 2015, going to two overtime periods

- Hannah Scott struck inside the last three minutes and Nicolette Salay found paydirt with 19 seconds left in regulation, setting up Kirstyn Kruse to bury the golden goal on a free position shot in the second three-minute overtime

- Scott and Caroline Beggs supplied hat tricks as head coach Caitlyn Corace's younger sister Alyssa Corace notched a three-point day

Scouting the Lady Hawks

- After defeating in-state Division III programs Oglethorpe and Berry in exhibitions, Shorter fell to SAC squad Tusculum by a 15-11 margin in its season opener 

- Rei Voight chalked up a hat trick and Cassidy Jones recorded two goals and two assists to key the offense while Alley Jones went .500 between the pipes with 15 saves in the crease

- The Lady Hawks are coming off back-to-back two-win campaigns, posting a 24-9 blowout against Southern Wesleyan and nipping Berry in overtime to tally their 2024 victories

- Shorter was slotted eighth of 11 teams in the Conference Carolinas Preseason Poll, projecting a playoff appearance for the Lady Hawks in their first season as a league member

Follow Along

Tune in to the live broadcast on the Conference Carolinas Digital Network and follow the stats on goshorterhawks.com.