GAME DAY INFORMATION DATE: April 26, 2021 LOCATION: Jess Dow Field New Haven, Conn. GAME DAY LINKS LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

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THE LEAD
The No. 19 New Haven women's lacrosse team will close the 2021 regular season when they head downtown to battle cross-town rival Southern Connecticut State under the lights Monday night. Opening draw in the Elm City Rivalry is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. with live coverage of the action at Jess Dow Field streamed via NE10 NOW and live stats available at NewHavenChargers.com.

SERIES HISTORY VS SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT STATE
In a series that dates back to 2002, New Haven holds a 17-2 record in the all-time series against its crosstown rival Southern Connecticut, including a streak of 13-straight victories leading into Monday's meeting. When playing across town on SCSU's campus, the Chargers own a 7-1 record, while over the 19-game series, New Haven is averaging 16.53 goals per game while posting its largest victory in 2013, a 20-2 decision at Zolad Stadium.

SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
New Haven comes into Monday following an 18-6 defeat to Le Moyne College Saturday afternoon. Junior Marina Skelly (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) notched her fourth hat-trick of the season for the Blue and Gold, as she takes sole possession of the team lead for goals scored (26) and points (31). She breaks a tie with sophomore Annie Acquavita (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) who has scored 23 goals in addition to five assists for the Chargers. Senior Emily Holland (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) and freshman Cypress Levitt (Calais, Vt./Montpelier) follow as the only other 20 point scorers this season as Holland dropped a pair of goals Saturday to increase to 21 for the season, and Levitt scored a single goal to give her 17 on the year. Levitt also leads the defense in the draw control department, corralling a team-high 48, just ahead of the program record holder, graduate Raven Linton (Lawrenceville, N.J./Notre Dame) who currently stands at 42.

SCOUTING THE OWLS
Southern Connecticut comes into the meeting with New Haven following a 19-9 loss to American International Saturday. Bayleigh Takacs matched her career-high with four goals scored that day in addition to one assist, while Hailey Gordon dished out a personal best four assists. On the season, senior Steph Seymour leads the Owls with nine goals scored this season. She is also tied for first, with Gordon and Takacs, in assists with seven. Senior Laura Morton has made 52 saves during the 2021 campaign, bringing her career total to 448, which is second all time in program history.

LEVITT TABBED ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Helping her team to a 1-1 week, freshman Cypress Levitt (Calais, Vt./Montpelier) racked up seven points on six goals and an assist earning her first Northeast-10 weekly accolade when she was tabbed Rookie of the Week on Monday, April 19. Five of her six goals came during the course of play, while one came on came from a free-position attempt. Her six goals tied her for the team lead that week, including four goals, all in succession, against Pace on Saturday night. She tallied two in a win at Saint Rose earlier in the week. In addition to her seven points, she added a team-high 10 draw controls, forced two turnovers and gathered one ground ball.

ACQUAVITA ADDS TO THE TROPHY CASE
The sophomore attacks haul of six goals and two assists in the home win over Saint Rose, with the addition of a goal in the upset of Adelphi, helped Annie Acquavita (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) pick up the first weekly accolade of the season for New Haven as she was tabbed the NE10 Rookie of the Week as announced by the league. Her six goals against the Golden Knights set a career-high while she jumped into third on the team in goals and a tie for second overall in points.

SKELLY KEEPS STREAK ALIVE
Dating back to April 27, 2019, junior midfielder Marina Skelly (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) scored at least one goal in 16 straight games for the Blue and Gold, with that streak coming to an end in the home loss against Pace. Overall in her career, she has scored at least one goal in all but six of her 32 games played, entering Monday with 58 career goals, passing the mid-century mark in the second game against Saint Rose this season with four goals. In the game prior against Le Moyne, Skelly reached 50 points in her career with a goal in the second half.

POST SEASON PLANS
As announced by the conference office on April 1st, the NE10 has adopted a postseason plan that includes all 14 teams qualifying for the conference championship. The Championship will be conducted in divisional play until the title game. With seven teams in each division, the top seeded team will receive a one-round bye with the highest seeds, 2-4, hosting first round games on Friday, April 30. Second round match-ups will take place on Monday, May 3 with a divisional championship set for Thursday, Mary 6. The NE10 Championship, which will pit the two divisional champions against each other, is slated for Sunday, May 9. NE10 Championship Women's Lacrosse Bracket (PDF)

Playoff Dates
Friday, April 30 - Southwest Division First Round
Monday, May 3 - Southwest Division Semifinal
Thursday, May 6 - Southwest Division Final
Sunday, May 9 - Northeast-10 Championship Game

THE 2021 SCHEDULE
As announced by the league prior to the season, the NE10 adopted a divisional format for 2021 – Northeast and Southwest – with all schools slated to play a 12-game conference schedule. Each team will play their divisional opponents twice. New Haven will play in the Southwest Division which is made up of seven teams including Adelphi, American International, Le Moyne, Pace, Saint Rose and Southern Connecticut. In addition to its 12-game conference schedule, this game against Bentley will be the lone non-divisional game for the Chargers this season.

CHARGERS FOURTH IN PRESEASON POLL
In a poll of the conference's 14 head coaches, the UNH women's lacrosse team was selected to finish fourth, among the seven teams, in the Southwest Division. Adelphi received 86 points and eight of the 14 possible first place votes to take the top spot in the division. Just two points behind them was Le Moyne who scored the remaining six first place tallies. Rounding out the top three was Pace with 61 points, followed closely by the Chargers with 58 points. Southern Connecticut (38 points), American International (32) and Saint Rose (26) rounded out the division. In the Northeast Division, Bentley and Assumption finished just one point apart for first place, with the Falcons earning 79 points and five first place votes, while Assumption came in with 78 points and seven first place votes.

LINTON NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
In its annual release of preseason All-Americans in early January, US Lacrosse Magazine included graduate defender Raven Linton (Lawrenceville, N.J./Notre Dame) among its 13-member team. Linton was one of four players in the Northeast-10 to earn the distinction. In the shortened season in 2020, Linton finished with 18 draw controls, splitting them evenly against Holy Family and New York Tech, also scoring once against each. The defender has been a force on the draw since arriving at New Haven, amassing 265 total heading into the season opener against American International. Her 293 draw controls puts her as the program's all-time leader, as Linton notched seven controls in the season opener this season, passing Kathryn Campbell (2012-15) who finished with 274. In addition, Linton has scored nine goals, racked up 115 ground balls and caused 102 turnovers.

CHARGERS NATIONALLY RANKED IN COACHES POLL
Following last weekend's loss to Pace, the Chargers remain among the top teams in the country, earning a spot in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll. In the Coaches Poll, conducted by the IWLCA, New Haven enters the week 19th among the top-25.

THE RACE TO 200
With its five wins so far this season, the Blue and Gold are in the midst of a race that sees them just three victories away from reaching 200 wins in program history. With lacrosse dating back to the 2001 season, the Chargers entered 2021 needing eight wins to hit the program milestone. Of those 197 wins to date, 169 have come under the leadership of 15th year head coach Jen Fallon. 

UP NEXT
Following the regular season finale Monday, New Haven will await the final games across the NE10 Wednesday, and the announcement of the 2021 playoff seedings. The opening round of the 2021 Northeast-10 Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship will begin on Friday, April 30, with seeds 2-6 battling for spots in the divisional quarterfinals. The top seed in the Northeast and Southwest divisions will receive a bye through the first round. Seeds 2-4 will host the opening round with times to be announced following the release of the playoff bracket. Stay tuned to NewHavenChargers.com and @UNewHavenWLax for the latest updates and game information.