Saturday, February 22
12:00 p.m. – Kennesaw State (0-1) vs Gardner-Webb (2-2)
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Notes: KSU

THE OPENING DRAW
» The Kennesaw State women's lacrosse team looks to bounce back after dropping its season opener to Vanderbilt Wednesday afternoon, hosting Gardner-Webb Saturday at noon. This will be the first time the Owls and Runnin' Bulldogs have squared off since Coach Maness' first season in 2017. KSU won that meeting 21-9.

» The Owls came out firing against the Commodores in Wednesday's opener, trailing 10-8 at the half. Both Abby Squires and Marissa Gore netted two goals each in the opening 30 minutes while Siena Gore recorded a hat trick. KSU's eight goals scored tied the most goals in a half against VU all-time and marked more goals netted in an entire game then the first five meetings against Vanderbilt.

» Siena Gore netted the 31st hat trick of her career Wednesday against the Commodores, but it was her sister Marissa who had a career day. Marissa tied her career-highs for goals (3), assists (2) and points (5), recording just the fifth hat trick of her career. With just one game under her belt, Marissa is tied for sixth in the ASUN for assists and 11th for total points.

» 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 141 goals scored in just over two seasons.

» Despite recording the loss, redshirt senior Alex Bunn opened her final season as an Owl with 10 saves against the Commodores for her 13th career game with double-figure saves. Bunn is one of three goalkeepers in the conference to average at least 10 saves over the opening stretch of the season.

RATED R FOR EXTREME GORE

Junior Siena Gore has dominated the attack for KSU throughout her two seasons, becoming the only Owl in history to score over 50 goals in a season, netting 70 in 2018 and 68 in 2019. Gore has scored four or more goals in 19 games, averaging 3.81 goals per game for her career. She has scored three or more goals in all but six games throughout her career and has never been held to less than two goals in a game.

KSU's first ever ASUN Player of the Year, Gore led the team in 2019 with 68 goals, 78 points, 36 ground balls and 98 draw controls while second with 21 caused turnovers.

With six draw controls in last year's regular season tilt against Jacksonville, Gore became just the third player in ASUN history to record over 200 career draw controls. She needs just 17 more draw controls this year to set a new all-time ASUN record.

Last year Gore, along with current senior Maura Palandro, became the first two-time First Team All-ASUN selection. She has won nearly every accolade the league has to offer, earning Freshman of the Year honors in 2018 and a spot on the all-academic team in 2019.

One of the few career records Gore is still chasing, she needs just 33 more points in 2020 to pass Sydney Farwick (2014-17) for the KSU all-time career points record.

SCOUTING THE RUNNIN' BULLDOGS
Gardner-Webb is currently 2-2 on the year as they head to Kennesaw with both of their victories coming against ASUN foes Howard and Akron. One of GWU's losses came against future KSU opponent Mercer, 20-6.

The Runnin' Bulldogs are led by junior, and Kennesaw native, Talen Francis who is the only player to record at least 10 goals so far this season with 11 total. Francis is 3-of-4 on free position shots and is tied for the team lead with nine draw controls.  

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 recording 23 goals and 14 assists last season. 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. 

Both Marissa and Siena started off the 2020 campaign on a high note with a pair of hat tricks against Vanderbilt. Marissa added two assists for a team-high five points while Siena logged six 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.

Abby Squires was the only Owl to net a free position goal during KSU's season opener as the Owls uncharacteristically went 1-for-5 on free position shots against Vanderbilt.

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. With her lone goal Wednesday, Squires has now taken sole possession of 10th on the career record list.

NAPPING ON THE JOB
Senior attacker Emily Napierala is the top returning 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 37 after recording one in KSU's opener against Vanderbilt.

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 223, one of two Owls ever to record over 200 career draw controls. Marissa (112) and Squires (105) are two of five players all-time to record over 100 career draw controls. Palermo needs 19 draw controls this year to crack the century mark.

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 312 in her career, over 100 more saves than the next closest player. 

Next Up
Following Saturday's showdown, the Owls play host to top-ranked Florida next Wednesday (Feb. 26) for their first ever meeting with the Gators.

 

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