PREVIEW: Women’s Lacrosse opens SAC slate at Tusculum

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – The Catawba College women's lacrosse team travels to Tusculum on Saturday for the programs' South Atlantic Conference opener commencing at 1 p.m.

Wednesday Win at SWU

- Catawba improved to 2-1 with a decisive 17-4 road victory over Southern Wesleyan in the Palmetto State

- Kylie Harris found paydirt four times as Mary Sorvillo scored thrice, giving the blue and white two hat tricks

- Skylar Mullin double-dipped with two goals and two assists in a breakout game for the rookie

- Audrey Adelsberger racked up a team-best three caused turnovers, tying her previous career high

- Ava Kunza spent the first half in net to earn the decision, then Elli Ferraro applied the finishing touches with six saves on seven shots in the second stanza

Impact Freshmen

- Grace Virginia Deal boasts a team-high eight points through her first three college games, scoring seven goals with one assist while shooting .583

- In the midfield, Mullin ranks high in both offensive and defensive categories with seven points on three goals and four dimes while adding seven ground balls and four takeaways

- Allison Filosa amassed six ground balls against the Warriors on Wednesday, taking over the squad lead at eight pickups

- Deal, Mullin, Filosa and Hannah Abel have been in the starting lineup for each of the first three contests

- Beginning each game in net thus far, Kunza has recorded 17 saves with a .347 save percentage and a 13.06 goals against average

SAC Opener History

- The Catawba Indians have won three SAC openers in program history

- The squad's last 1-0 start in conference play was 2019 when Catawba took down Newberry 14-7

- Last season, the blue and white kicked off their league slate with a home loss to Tusculum; Catawba looks to get even on Saturday

All-Time Series

- Catawba holds the series lead at 5-3 against the Pioneers

- After winning five straight games over Tusculum, the Catawba Indians have fallen in the last two annual matchups — a year ago, TU clipped Catawba 12-10 at Shuford Stadium

- Of the three meetings occurring in Greeneville, Tusculum has won twice including the 15-3 rout on Apr. 1, 2023

Scouting the Pioneers

- Tusculum has gone 3-2 against non-conference foes in its early season, taking each win by four or fewer goals

- The Pioneers topped North Greenville 17-13 in the midweek for their home opener

- TU was positioned eighth in the SAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, just one spot and three points ahead of Catawba

- Elisha Stack's 20 points paced the offense as she and Cassidy Bourne have each found the back of the net 11 times

- Junior Emily White has been the only goalie to see action for the Pioneers, making 53 saves on a .442 success rate

Follow Along

All SAC games are streamed on FloCollege ($) as live stats will be available on TusculumStats.com.