Drexel University Athletics
Drexel University
Maryland - NCAA First Round
Women's Lacrosse Faces Maryland in NCAA Championships on Friday
5/10/2023 3:00:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
Watch: ESPN+
Location: Sentara Park - Harrisonburg, Va. (James Madison University)
Social Media
@DrexelWLax | @DrexelDragons
PHILADELPHIA - The Drexel women's lacrosse team faces the No. 11 Maryland Terrapins in the First Round of the NCAA Championships from Harrisonburg, Va. on Friday evening. This is the Dragons third consecutive appearance in the tournament. The NCAA contest will be a regular season rematch from February 21 when the Terps won 15-9 at Vidas Field. Friday's game will be aired on ESPN+ at 5:00 p.m.
Award Season
The Dragons picked up a major haul in the yearly conference awards. Corinne Bednarik, Jenika Cuocco and Belle McHugh, received All-CAA First Team honors. Additionally, Bednarik garnered the CAA Attacker of the Year. Cuocco was honored as the Rookie of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, and was also named to the All-CAA Rookie Team. Hayleigh Simpson and Maura Cissel received the nod for All-CAA Second Team recognition. In the CAA Tournament, Maddie Fowler and Cissel were honored on the All-CAA Tournament Team.
CAA Represent
For the sixth time in the last seven years, the Colonial Athletic Association is represented by multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament as Drexel is joined by Stony Brook in the field. The high-water mark during that span came in both 2017 and 2021 with three teams gaining berths. 2019 is the only time in the stretch where only one team made the tournament.
Scouting Report
The Terps enter the game ranked at No. 11 in the IWLCA poll as they closed out the season at 14-6. They are coming off a close defeat to No. 1 Northwestern, 14-9 in the B1G Championship. Maryland downed Ohio State and Rutgers to reach the conference final.
UMD is led by Libby May, Kori Edmonson, Hannah Leubecker and Eloise Clevenger. May is the top scorer for the Terps with 58 goals this season. A freshman, Edmonson has stepped up huge for Maryland in her first season as she has found the back of the net 38 times. Leubecker, an attacker, has contributed 40 points with 34 tallies and six helpers. Clevenger has been able to pick apart defensive units, earning 44 assists as an attacker.
Additionally, Shay Ahearn has been dominant in the circle. She leads the Big Ten and is in 10th in Division I with 131 draw controls. The senior was honored as the B1G Midfielder of the Year.
In goal, Emily Sterling, the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year, has been crucial to the Terps defensive unit. She has started in all 20 contests and has garnered a 48.2 save percentage this season with 172 saves and 16 ground balls. She has helped keep 12 opponents to single digit goals this season earned at least 13 saves in each of the past three games. Additionally, Abby Bosco leads the way with 40 ground balls and 40 caused turnovers.
Veteran mentor Cathy Reese returned to her alma mater for the 2007 season and has taken the program to new heights during her 17 years in College Park, going 316-40 with the Terps and 333-64 in 20 seasons as a collegiate head coach overall. She has guided Maryland to 10 seasons of 20 or more wins during her tenure, claiming the 2010, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019 national championships.
Series History
The February 21 matchup is the only previous meeting between Drexel and Maryland in women's lacrosse.
Dragon Lair
Enter the lair if you dare. Drexel went 8-1 on home turf this season and ended the year with seven wins in a row at Vidas Field. Since 2020, the Dragons are 24-6 at home, a winning percentage of .800.
Starting Strong (Part I)
Corinne Bednarik earned the first CAA Player of the Week award with her five-goal, nine-point performance against Binghamton on February 11. On March 7, she was awarded the Division I Player of the Week by US Lacrosse Magazine. The Glenmoore, Pa. native is one of the returnees from last season and enters the NCAA Tournament as the active career leader for Drexel in points, goals and assists.
Doing Things The Simpson Way
With 32 scores this season, Hayleigh Simpson has recorded a career high in tallies. Simpson currently has a 95.5 shots on goal percentage. Coming into this year, she scored 34 goals in 55 career games. The fifth-year midfielder was awarded the CAA Player of the Week following her six goal performance against Fairfield on 3/11/23.
Starting Strong (Part II)
After not seeing the field in game action last year as a freshman, Jenika Cuocco has fully taken the goalkeeping position for the Dragons. She has exceeded all expectations this season and made 173 saves on 445 shots faced and holds a 9.07 goals against average. Those numbers helped her to CAA Rookie of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year accolades. Cuocco leads the CAA and is fifth in the NCAA with a 53.2 save percentage. Additionally, she was named an ILWomen Midseason Honorable Mention All-American.
Defense Strong
Drexel's defensive unit has been key to its success. The Dragons rank 17th in the NCAA in scoring defense allowing 9.18 goals per game. The team held San Diego State scoreless for a 50-minute stretch on March 28 and allowed just five goals in the contest. Against William & Mary on March 25, the unit forced 16 turnovers in a season-high effort.
I Won't Back Down
Drexel has shown it is not afraid to challenge itself with the schedule. After facing five ranked opponents last year in its 17-game regular season slate, the Dragons have an equal number of opponents this year who were either in the IWLCA Preseason Top-25 or were receiving votes. Drexel defeated No. 19 Johns Hopkins 16-11 and Temple 11-10 this season. DU has received votes in four polls during 2023.
Ready...Set...DRAW!
Drexel continues to have success in the draw with a pair of players each tying for fifth in the CAA. Both Corinne Bednarik and Maura Cissel pulled in 69 draws thus far in 2023.
Unparalleled Success
The last three seasons have seen an unprecedented level of success for the Dragons who advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first times in program history. Coming along with that was a victory in last season's CAA tournament, the first CAA title for the Drexel in women's lacrosse. It was the first championship ever in the 40-plus year history of Drexel women's lacrosse, which didn't advance to a conference postseason until 2011. This is the program's third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships.
Historical Perspective
Thanks to that success in the past three seasons, the Dragons have won at a clip that has only been seen one other time in program history. The four year stretch from 2020-23 (including the pandemic shortened 2020 season) has seen DU win 42 games. Drexel has only won that many games three times in a four-year stretch when it claimed 46 wins from 2004-07.
Up Next
The winner of the game between Drexel and Maryland advances to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament to face the winner between No. 7 James Madison and Army West Point on Sunday, May 14 at 1 p.m.
