Field Hockey | August 26, 2021

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle field hockey season kicks off with a pair of games, starting at Rider on Friday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. before returning to Philadelphia to host Merrimack in their home opener on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 11:30 a.m.

SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

• Friday's season opener will mark the head coaching debut for Martu Loncarica, who took over the program on July 28, 2021. Loncarica comes to La Salle as a three-time All-American as a student-athlete at Syracuse and a member of eight NCAA tournament teams as a player and coach.
• The Explorers welcome back their three-leading point scorers from the 2021 spring season in Tatum Johnson, Samie Hackman, and Natalie Biliunas.
• Johnson led the team with five points, including a three point, goal and assist performance against UMass.   
• Friday's season opener marks the first game action for the Explorers since dropping a narrow 2-1 decision to Lock Haven (4-1) in the 2021 spring season's finale.
• The Blue & Gold trailed in the fourth quarter of that game against the Bald Eagles before knotting the score at 1-1 with seven minutes to go. However, Lock Haven was able to jump back in front in the final minutes.
• In goal, the Explorers feature a young tandem of sophomore Ryan Curley, who made three appearances with one start last season and welcome transfer Emily Streib, who started all seven games for Syracuse in the spring 2021 season while posting a 3-4 record and 1.75 goals against average.

SCOUTING THE BRONCS:

• The defending NEC Champions, Rider finished their 2021 spring season 6-2, 5-1 NEC.
• The Broncs were picked to repeat as champions in the 2021 fall season, garnering five of the eight first place votes—they defeated LIU in the championship game 5-0 before falling to No. 7 UConn in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  
• In total, Rider returns four All-Conference players and nine starters, highlighted by NEC Player and Offensive Player of the Year Julia Divorra, who tallied eight goals and five assists in just eight games last season.
• Tess van Ommeren and Carly Brosious joined Divorra on the All-Conference first team, while Sierra Giuliano was named to the second team.
• In their most recent matchup, the Broncs edged out a 2-1 (OT) win over La Salle on a Divorra golden-strike on Sept. 6, 2019—the Explorers had won the previous two matchups.

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS:

• Merrimack finished the 2021 spring season with an 0-5 record, including 0-4 in NEC conference play.   
• Multi-year captain Juliane Ohmen returns to anchor the Warrior backline—she also led the team with four points on a pair of goals.
• Merrimack will return two other goal scorers in Lauren Burke and Riley Lambert, and named senior Bridget Shanahan a team captain alongside Ohmen.
• The Warriors open their season at Temple on Friday, Aug. 27 before continuing their Philadelphia road trip against La Salle on Sunday, Aug. 29.