XU lacrosse opened with West Coast road trip, will host Radford on Saturday.
By Robbie Dzierzanowski, Staff Writer
The Xavier Women’s lacrosse team, the newest Division I sport on campus, opened their third season this past weekend at Arizona State where they dropped both games at the hands of Arizona State University and San Diego State University.
The Muskies, 0-2 this year, will be back in action at home this Saturday at Corcoran Field against Radford. The history of Radford University and the Muskies dates back to Xavier’s first program win, a 15-14 victory that saw now-sophomore Lola Mancuso score a hat trick as the team’s leading scorer in the game.
Later in the season, the Muskies will face Presbyterian University, The University of Akron, and The University of Detroit Mercy before taking on the crosstown foes the Cincinnati Bearcats on the soil at Corcran Field. This rivalry, which is traditional for both schools and is a coveted bragging rights point between both universities, will see the women’s lacrosse programs meet for the first time in both programs’ history.
The Muskies then will open Big East against the Butler Bulldogs at home on Mar. 23. After facing a gauntlet including home games against Big East acheivers Connecticut (April 6) and Marquette (April 20) before ending the regular season at currently fourth-ranked Denver University.
A notable aspect of this year’s season is that the Musketeers will play host to the 2024 Big East Women’s Lacrosse Tournament held on Xavier’s campus at Corcran Field from May 2-4, 2024.
Within their schedule for this season, the Muskies will play nine home games and seven road games, facing six new opponents in non-conference play, from six difference conferences across the United States.
Besides the new freshmen on the team, Head Coach Meg Decker added two transfers in graduate student Julia Frombach and senior Jordan Miller. Decker also added 14 freshman players during the offseason, including USA Lacrosse High School All—Americans Colby Wasson, Lydia Laney, Kirra Crowley and Michaela Henry.
Decker returns to her second season at the lead position in the program: head coach. In the previous season, Decker brought in three postseason individual awards and three in-season awards, including 2023 Big East Freshman of the Week Mancuso.
An important piece to the program returning in her second season is Mancuso, who was the women’s team leader in points, goals, free position goals, shots on goal, total shots, game-winning goals, man-up and man-down goals. She was the first Xavier player to be named the Big East Freshman of the Week and also bagged the highest honor of Big East Freshman of the Year last season.
Another key piece to the Musketeer’s success last season was sophomore Erin Berls. Berls was a member of both the 2022-2023 All-Big East Academic Team and 2023 All-Big East Second Team last season. Sophomore Kiera Armitage, last year’s team leader in draw controls also rteurns.
The Muskies are back in action when they take on Radford this Saturday at Corcoran Field. First draw is scheduled for noon.
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