ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's lacrosse team begins the 2022 regular season at home Monday, February 21, in O'Laughlin Stadium. The Saints host #2 Cumberlands College for a faceoff between two of the top 10 NAIA nationally-ranked women's lacrosse programs. The game is set to start at 1:00 P.M. SHU will look to improve upon the final standing of third in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) standings from a year ago.
The Saints were chosen to finish second in the 2022 WHAC Preseason Coaches' Poll released Monday, January 31. The Siena Heights women were also ranked seventh in the NAIA top ten poll for the 2022 season.
LAST SEASON
Siena Heights finished 2021 with a 7-4 overall record and a 4-1 mark in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) to tie with Lawrence Tech for the second-place slot standings. Unfortunately, the Saints lost in the WHAC championship game to Lawrence Tech, although they received an NAIA national championship tournament bid. They played a quarterfinals game against Keiser University, unfortunately losing in the first round.
2022 SEASON
This season has Siena Heights competing in 17 games during the regular season. In addition, the Saints have one home game in February, three in March, and three in April for a total of 7 home contests. Home matches will be streamed on the SHU Saints YouTube page. Links for the video feed, live stats, and tickets for these contests can be found on the team's schedule page.
WHAC play will start in O'Laughlin Stadium when hosting #2 Cumberlands University comes to town on Monday, February 21.
THE TEAM
The Saints return NAIA's first-team All-America selection, Marissa Cirino. Cirino was also crowned the league's offensive player of the year, a member of the All-Academic team, and first-team All-WHAC a season ago. Also returning this season is Alexis Nicole, a second-team All-WHAC member. Sophomore Madison Spell returns to play in the 2022 season as well. SHU has a total of 14 upperclassmen returning to the field this season. Top newcomers for the Saints include Hannah Merrick, a senior transfer from Lourdes University. Tayler Stockdale, a freshman from British Columbia, Canada, and Courtney Frankfurth from Ramsey, Michigan.
THE COACHING STAFF
Head Coach Alexa Matta enters her third year with the SHU women's lacrosse program. Matta's 2021 season was one of the best in program history as the Saints qualified for the 2021 NAIA Championship Tournament.
