Women's lacrosse picked to finish fourth in SCIAC

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's lacrosse team begins its 2019 season on Wednesday. The Panthers were picked to finish fourth in a poll of the SCIAC coaches this year.

Three of the Panthers' top-5 scorers will be back on the field this season led by senior Danielle Zahn. Zahn scored 25 goals with four assists last season and ranked second on the team to all-time leading scorer Stacey Zuppa. Junior Alexandra Callaway also eclipsed 20 goals last season, scoring 24 with three assists.

Junior attacker Leah Donnelly found the back of the net 18 times last year as well. Her 39 draw controls ranked second on the squad just in front of sophomore Skyler Johnson (35) and Zahn (26).

Zahn and Callaway each finished the season with All-SCIAC honors after helping the Panthers to a fourth-place finish in the SCIAC in 2018. The Panthers also return a pair of All-SCIAC defenders in senior Shelby Thompson and junior Ally Kroeckel. Thompson led the squad with 32 caused turnovers and picked up a team-best 45 groundballs.

Kroeckel, Zahn and junior Lucy Schwartz all caused over 20 turnovers on the year with Schwartz and Zahn picking up 34 and 35 groundballs, respectively. All of the Panthers' defensive starters return from last season as Chapman returns 10 players with at least nine starts in 2018, including goalie Taylor Hextrum.

The Panthers open the season with a SCIAC match against Occidental tomorrow at 7 p.m. After a pair of away SCIAC matches, Chapman is back home for the month of March to fill out its non-conference schedule before finishing up with five SCIAC matches in April.

With just two players out of the starting lineup gone from a year ago, the Panthers' young core remains largely intact and looks to continue progressing and move up the SCIAC standings when Chapman takes the field for the first time on Wednesday.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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