Free Live Webcast via necfrontrow.com I Live Stats

NEC Release I 2015 Wagner Overall & NEC Stats I Up-to-Date NCAA Division I Stats

Watch GEICO NEC Google Hangout with Shea Gegan

Smithfield, RI – The Wagner women's lacrosse team will battle Bryant today on the road at 4:00 p.m. in a battle of undefeated Northeast Conference (NEC) teams with the regular season league title on the line.

After opening the season with a 2-7 record, which included four straight gut-wrenching one-goal losses, the red-hot Seahawks have won six straight games overall and are now 8-7 on the season. With the Seahawks and Bulldogs heading into today's showdown with identical 5-0 NEC records, and one game remaining to be played on Sunday, a win today for Wagner will clinch the league regular season title and allow Wagner to host the four-team NEC Championship for the first time ever on May 1 and May 3.

A win today for Bryant, which is 11-3 overall, would go a long way towards clinching the NEC regular season title and hosting rights for the Bulldogs, but will not automatically due so. On Sunday, April 26, Bryant hosts third-place Mount St. Mary's (4-1 NEC record), which plays at 1-4 Central Connecticut today.

If the Mount wins today and goes to 5-1, the Bulldogs will need to beat Wagner and the Mount in order to gain the No. 1 seed and hosting rights to the 2015 NEC Championship for a second straight season.

Wagner ends its regular season on Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. contest at Central Connecticut but this game will only factor in the league standings should the Seahawks lose to Bryant today. If Wagner, Bryant and the Mount wind up in a three-way tie for the regular season title with matching 5-1 records, the three-way tie-breaker is goal differential between the teams and Wagner owns a 13-7 win over the Mount.

In 2014, the Bulldogs gained the No. 1 seed by virtue of its 7-6 double-overtime win at Wagner on April 4, and went on to defeat the No. 2 seed Seahawks 14-6 in the league championship game. This double-OT loss to Bryant is the lone for blemish for head coach Liz Frisoli in conference play and came in the first NEC game that she ever coached. The second-year mentor has now led the Seahawks to 11 straight NEC wins since, and owns a sparkling 11-1 (.917) record in league play - a 6-1 mark last season, followed by this year's 5-0 league start.

Today's game marks the eighth all-time meeting between the schools and Bryant holds a 4-3 lead in the all-time series.

On the field, the Seahawks are led by junior midfielder Shea Gegan (Belmar, NJ/Mansquan). The nation's leader in both caused turnovers and ground balls per game, the 2014 NEC Defensive Player of the Year  claimed her third straight Northeast Conference (NEC) Defensive Player of the Week honor, and fourth of the season, this week.  In addition to her four weekly NEC honors, Gegan was tabbed the Corvias ECAC Division I Metro/Upstate Defensive Player of the Week for the week of April 15.

Last time out, on Sunday, Wagner overcame a 6-3 second-half deficit when sophomore attack Olivia Streilein (Mt.Laurel, NJ/Lenape) sank a five-yard blast 23 seconds into the second overtime session in lifting the Green & White to thrilling 9-8 comeback win over Sacred Heart on Grymes Hill.

Gegan's 67 ground balls this season is tied for the school single-season record with Natosha Davis (2000), and eclipses the 61 she collected in 2014 which is now third all-time. The multi-skilled Gegan holds the top three spots on Wagner's all-time single-season caused turnovers list. The 65 CT's she forced in 2014 is currently No.1, followed by the 61 she has so far this season. Her 42 CT's set in 2013 as a freshman now rank third all-time. Added together, Gegan's school-record career total is now up to 167 CT's.

Through 15 games this season, Gegan is the Seahawk team leader in goals (33), assists (22), points (55), ground balls (67) and caused turnovers (61), while ranking second on the team with 35 draw controls, two behind sophomore defender Amanda Rey (Turnersville, NJ/Washington Township), who has 37.

 
   









Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@WagnerAthletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department and @WagnerWlax for information specific to the Seahawk women's lacrosse team.