Wednesday, February 19
1:00 p.m. – Kennesaw State (0-0) vs Vanderbilt (1-1)
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Notes: KSU 

THE OPENING DRAW
» The Kennesaw State women's lacrosse team opens the 2020 campaign with a seven-game homestand, kicking off the year Wednesday afternoon against Vanderbilt. The Owls will look to begin the season on a high note, earning their first ever win over the Commodores having faced Vanderbilt in four of its seven season-openers.

» KSU is coming off another stellar season in which it tied the program record with eight victories in 2019 while earning a berth in the ASUN Championship Tournament for the second straight year. The Owls have enjoyed an offensive renaissance under fourth-year head coach Laura Maness who has led KSU to its best three-year stretch in program history with 23 total wins. KSU has recorded over 200 goals in each of the last three seasons, a feat never accomplished in the first four years of the program.

» The 2019 ASUN Player of the Year and 2020 Preseason Player of the Year Siena Gore has rewritten the KSU record books in her two seasons as an Owl and looks to continue to do so in her junior campaign. Gore already holds the top two spots all-time for single season points, goals, shots on goal, draw controls and free position goals. She is the only player to net over 70 goals in a season, having done it both her freshman and sophomore seasons. Gore already holds the all-time scoring record at KSU with 138 goals scored in just two seasons.

» The Owls will have a veteran squad in 2020, losing only five players from a year ago and only one starter. KSU returns 87 percent of its scoring offense while retaining defensive standouts Maura Palandro and redshirt senior goalkeeper Alex Bunn. Bunn is the only goalkeeper in program history to start in over 30 games, holding the all-time record with 302 career saves.

» KSU was one of the top shooting teams in the country last season, ranked seventh in the NCAA with a 48.5 shooting percentage. From the arc, the Owls were even deadlier shooting 51.5 percent to rank fourth in the nation. KSU was one of 14 teams to net over 60 free position goals, tied for seventh with 67 total. 

SCOUTING THE COMMODORES
Vanderbilt comes to Kennesaw to close out a three-game road trip to start the year. The Commodores opened the season last Sunday, defeating Wagner 14-11 before falling to No. 5 Boston College 15-12 this past Sunday.

Sophomore Bri Gross leads the team with seven goals as four other Commodores netted four goals over the first two games. 

SISTER-SISTER
Junior twins Siena and Marissa Gore have been a dominant force for the Owls in just two seasons. Originally from Alpharetta, Ga., the two dot the KSU record book already ranking in the top-10 all-time for multiple career marks.

After a decent freshman campaign in which she saw action in 15 games, making 11 starts, Marissa nearly doubled her production across the board in 2019. Marissa netted 14 goals and nine assists her freshman season, before becoming one of seven players to start all 18 games in 2019, recording 23 goals and 14 assists. Marissa was one of three players to log over 20 goals and 10 assists last season.

Where Marissa really stepped up was her hustle stats in the midfield. She led the team with 25 caused turnovers, compared to only three her freshman year, while second for both ground balls (30) and draw controls (96).

Heading into her junior season, Marissa is tied for fifth all-time for career assists while joining sister Siena as one of five players in program history to log over 100 career draw controls. 

EIGHT METERS OUT
KSU dominated other teams from the eight-meter arc last season, netting over a quarter of its goals on the year from the hash.

The Owls were one of five teams in the NCAA to finish the year shooting over 50 percent on free position attempts, ranked fourth with a 51.5 shooting percentage. KSU has netted over 50 free position goals in each of the last three seasons, recording a program best 83 goals in 2018.

Five of the Owls' top-10 career free position scorers return for the 2020 slate, including all-time leader Siena Gore. Gore leads all Owls with 61 free position goals followed by Izzy Palermo in third with 30 goals and Anna Giulitto in seventh with 22. Both Abby Squires and Marissa Gore are tied for 10th with nine each.

NAPPING ON THE JOB
Senior attacker Emily Napierala will be the top distributor for the Owls in 2020, replacing KSU's all-time leading assister Haley Swift who graduated last season.

Napierala led the team with 25 assists a year ago to mark just the third time in program history an Owl has recorded over 20 assists in a season. the Lawrenceville, Ga., native logged three or more assists in three games last year, including a career-high four in KSU's win over Kent State.

Napierala currently ranks fourth all-time for career assists with 36.

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
The Owls were one of the top teams in the country last season off the draw, ranking 12th in the NCAA averaging 15.78 draw controls per game. That mark was good enough to rank first on the KSU single season record list along with KSU's 284 total draw controls on the year.

Siena and Marissa Gore ranked first and second, respectively, in the ASUN with 98 and 96 draw controls. Their 2019 totals marked only the third and fourth times a player has logged over 90 draw controls in a season.

Both Siena and Marissa logged 10 draw controls in one game last season, tied for the second most in a single game in KSU history.

Both Gores, along with Abby Squires and Izzy Palermo, rank in the top six all-time for career draw controls heading into 2020. Siena Gore is the current record holder with 217, one of two Owls ever to record over 200 career draw controls. Marissa (109) and Squires (102) are two of five players all-time to record over 100 career draw controls. Palermo needs 22 draw controls this year to crack the century mark.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
The KSU attack has been on a steady increase over the last three seasons, averaging over 12 goals per game each of the last three seasons. Before the current three-year stretch, KSU never averaged double-digit goals in a season, breaking over nine goals per game only twice (2014 and 2016).

This past season, KSU averaged 13.72 goals per game to rank fourth in the ASUN and 30th in the NCAA. The Owls' 247 total goals on the year tied the program record previously set in 2017. KSU has netted over 200 total goals in each of the past three seasons.

The Owls had three players, Siena Gore (68), Abby Squires (41) and Anna Giulitto (31), net over 30 goals last season. All three return for the 2020 season.

Both Gore and Squires ranked among the top-5 in the ASUN for goals per game with Gore's 3.78 goals per game average leading the league and ranking 10th in the NCAA. Squires ranked fifth in the league averaging 2.28 per game.

BUNN-BELIEVABLE
Redshirt senior Alex Bunn returns to the net for her fifth and final season in an Owl uniform in 2020. Bunn holds nearly every record a goalkeeper can for KSU, being the only player in program history to start in over 30 games between the posts.

She opened the 2019 season in spectacular fashion, setting the single-game record with 17 saves at Arizona State. The Roswell, Ga., native is the only Owl in program history to average over 10 saves per game in a single season, finishing the 2019 campaign averaging 14.72 saves per game. Her 162 total saves a year ago ranked second in the ASUN and 36th in the NCAA.

Bunn is already KSU's all-time saves leader with 302 in her career, over 100 more saves than the next closest player. 

THE 2020 SLATE
The KSU lacrosse faithful will have plenty of opportunities to see the Owls in action this season with 12 of their 17 games played on its home turf at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in 2020.

The Owls stare down a formidable schedule that includes showdowns against perennial powerhouses Vanderbilt, Mercer, Furman and Florida. Both Florida and ASUN preseason favorite Jacksonville reached the NCAA Tournament last season with the Gators currently ranked third in the NCAA.

In addition to its first ever match against Florida, KSU will also square off with Vermont and Akron for the first time.

The Owls look to put together their first winning season in program history along with its first postseason victory, playing host to the ASUN tournament in 2020.

Next Up
Following Wednesday's season opener, the Owls continue their seven-game homestand hosting Gardner-Webb Saturday at 12 p.m.

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