DOVER, Del. – The Presbyterian College lacrosse team – seeing a 10-day rest period in between games one and two of the 2023 journey – returns to the fold on Wednesday afternoon in the nation's first state, visiting the Hornets of Delaware State at 12:00 p.m. PC aims to keep its perfect track record against their northeastern foe intact tomorrow at lunchtime, winning all six previous meetings in a series that dates back nine years.
Year #4 of head coach
Eric Clakeley's tenure at the Blue Hose helm began on Feb. 12 with a road faceoff vs. Coastal Carolina, a result that favored the Chanticleers 20-3. Six of Presbyterian's eight nonconference encounters are held away from home this semester, although Wednesday's bout in Dover represents the last occasion of PC play before they compete in Clinton four days later.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
While normally a struggling unit out of the blocks if recent statistics are to be believed, Delaware State seems to have bumped that trend only two games into the '23 slate by picking up consecutive victories over Howard in Chapel Hill by a 16-4 difference and more recently a 13-12 thriller on Sunday against Akron that needed four overtime periods to see its ending.
Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Pamella Jenkins, the Hornets' 29-goal collection is a figure that took them six games to achieve in 2022, seemingly on a path to exceed their ASUN preseason projection of last place. Already gathering more W's this year than in the entirety of last spring, DSU will host the Blue Hose riding more momentum seen around its program in quite some time.
Three different Hornets have gained at least four goals in only two meetings, led by Nardi Rossella's seven strikes on 15 attempts. Consequently, keeper Yeda Couto-Erickson was named the ASUN's Defensive Player of the Week following the season-starting blowout against Howard, thus far saving 23 shots in 123 minutes on the field.
LAST TIME OUT
It may not have been the most desired result in the Coastal Carolina defeat, although Clakeley's mature squad showed glimpses of what's to come by finding three goals from three different players each in a separate period. Behind a late first-half score, senior
Abby Edmisten became the third-highest goal-getter in PC history with her 90
th connection 65 seconds before the horn.
Sophomore
Willow Hammond and junior
Kylie Sullivan represented the other Blue Hose goals in the first of 17 regular season affairs, while defensive leaders
Kendall Goldfarb and
Paige Gacek scooped up seven ground balls. Presbyterian collectively caused the Chanticleers to lose possession 12 times as freshman goalie
Lilly Phillips produced six stops in her debut.
Across six all-time matchups with the Hornets, PC has garnered an average of 19 goals per contest (winning by a nine-goal difference). The Blue Hose have outscored DSU by a combined 52 points since their first clash in 2014, their largest margin of victory occurring in 2018 by a 20-8 deficit.
A link to live statistics of Wednesday's battle can be found below, or at the top of this page.
PC vs. Delaware State Live Stats -
https://dsuhornets.com/sidearmstats/wlax/summary
