March 17, 2015
Vanderbilt Game Notes|Louisville Game Notes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There is no such thing as a reprieve for the Vanderbilt lacrosse team in the month of March.
After playing their fourth straight game against a ranked foe on Sunday at No. 9 Penn State, the Commodores are right back in the fire with a tough matchup at No. 10 Louisville at noon on Wednesday. Vanderbilt is in the midst of a stretch of seven straight games against ranked teams.
In fact, Wednesday’s game will mark the second of three consecutive contests against Top 10 foes – No. 9 Penn State last Sunday, the 10th-ranked Cardinals on Wednesday and No. 6 Florida waiting on Sunday back in Nashville.
Vanderbilt (3-4) will try its best to weather the storm and snap a four-game losing streak. The Cardinals (5-2) suffered their first two losses of the season in the last two games — to No. 3 Boston College and No. 4 Duke. Louisville is led by Kaylin Morissette, who ranks second in Division I with 10.71 draw controls a game and tied for 11th with 25 goals.
Louisville leads the all-time series 3-2 and has won two straight, including a 18-14 decision in overtime last year.
SCORING TRIO
Juniors Mallory Schonk (18 goals) and Alexa Kunowsky (15) and sophomore Jill Doherty (15) have been a prolific scoring trio with a combined 48 goals. Schonk ranks second in the BIG EAST with 4.00 points a game. Doherty’s 12 assists rank second in the league and all three rank in the top 10 in goals per game.
Kayla Peterson EARNS WEEKLY HONOR
Freshman Kayla Peterson nabbed the first honor of her career when she was named the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week on March 17.
Peterson recorded her second straight hat trick, had a career-high two assists and collected a personal-best three ground balls against No. 9 Penn State.
CHANDLER DONE FOR SEASON
Junior attacker and lead draw specialist Kelly Chandler suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice on March 5. The Salisbury, Md., native, ranks sixth on the program’s all-time list with 100 draw controls. She led the team this season with 28 before her injury and also scored 13 goals in the first five games.
TOUGH SCHEDULE
Sunday’s game against No. 10 Penn State will be the team’s fifth straight against a ranked opponent and second of three straight against top 10 teams. VU is in a stretch of eight games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year and started the season ranked — Denver, Penn, Stanford, Penn State, Louisville, Florida, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown.
‘DORES HEAVY ON EXPERIENCE
The Commodores entered 2015 with 20 returning letterwinners and nine starters back. They’re heavy on experience with six seniors (four starters) and eight juniors (four starters).
Among those notable to return are Kelly Chandler (27 goals), Mallory Schonk (25 goals, 27 assists), Jill Doherty (20 goals, 17 assists), Amanda Lockwood (18 goals), Alexa Kunowsky (16 goals), Emma Dagres (14 goals), Alex Duckenfield (31 ground balls, 15 caused turnovers) and Maddie Kratz (121 saves).
VU JOINS BIG EAST
Vanderbilt begins its first season in the BIG EAST Conference. The Commodores spent the last 13 years in the American Lacrosse Conference, which disbanded. VU joins former ALC member Florida along with Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Marquette, Temple and Villanova. The ‘Dores were picked to finish fourth in the preseason coaches poll.