GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College women's lacrosse team will take the field for the first time in program history on Saturday when the Pioneers travel to Spartanburg, South Carolina to face Converse College and open the 2015 inaugural season.

Women's lacrosse is the 16th and newest varsity sport sponsored by Tusculum. Head coach Jenna Handshoe has recruited 20 players to make up the 2015 roster, including 11 freshmen and four upperclassmen with previous collegiate playing experience. The roster includes student-athletes from 10 different states and three countries.

"Our theme this whole preseason has been Team First," said Handshoe, who came to TC in the fall of 2013 after serving as head coach at Tennessee Wesleyan College for two seasons. "We have been teaching our players to put the team before individual accolades and to play for the love of the game.

"Our main focus this season will be defense. If we limit our opponent's opportunities on the defensive end, and possess the ball while being patient on offense, then we will have success."

The Pioneers are scheduled to play 14 games this season, including seven home dates at Pioneer Field and eight South Atlantic Conference matchups. TC is picked seventh in the league's preseason coaches' poll, edging out second-year program Brevard and fellow first-year program Lincoln Memorial.

"Converse will be a strong challenge for our first game, but I feel we are evenly matched," Handshoe stated. "It will be the first collegiate game for most of the girls and it will be an eye opening experience.

"We are also excited for our first home game against Saint Andrews next Friday night, but it will also be a good test for us. Then we head right into conference play at Lenoir-Rhyne. There are nine teams in the conference and five of those teams are first or second year programs. So I feel that we are very evenly matched in that sense."

The Pioneers are set to feature a four-man attack this season featuring two of the team's captains and upperclassmen leading the way.

Junior Cheyenne Bray is a transfer from Tennessee Wesleyan and was named the Appalachian Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year in her only season as a Bulldog. She is a native of Collierville, Tennessee and a four-year varsity captain at Collierville High School. Bray was an All-State selection as a senior and a two-time All-Region honoree.

Fellow team captain Kelsey Crow is also a transfer from Tennessee Wesleyan after playing two years with the Bulldogs. She is a native of Franklin, Tennessee and a product of Franklin High School where she was a two-time All-State selection and a three-time All-Region honoree.

Handshoe is also expecting contributions from freshmen Shelby Moon and Paula Ortiz-Gomez, who will be called upon to play primarily behind and around the goal. Moon is a native of Seymour, Tennessee and was a two-year letter-winner and All-Region honoree at Seymour High School. Ortiz-Gomez is a native of Bucaramanga, Colombia and graduated from J.L. Mann High School in Greenville, South Carolina.

Also expected to see significant minutes is freshman Savannah Elliott, who joined the team this past January. Elliot is a native of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada where she played for the Oshawa Lady Blue Knights club team. She was a three-year captain and tallied over 80 points over the last two seasons.

Tusculum will feature two different lines to make up the midfield positions, each bringing different skill sets and abilities to the field including speed and power.

Freshman Madison Malone was selected as one of the three team captains, and comes to Tusculum from Maple Grove, Minnesota. Malone is a product of Osseo Senior High School where she led the team in scoring and assists as a junior and senior, and picked up All-Conference honors following those campaigns.

Sophomore Calyn Kelly is a transfer from Reinhardt University and a native of Ellenwood, Georgia. She is a product of Southwest Dekalb High School where she was an All-American nominee following her senior campaign in which she scored 60 goals.

Freshman Erin Sims is a native of Trussville, Alabama and a graduate of Ramsay High School. She was a two-time All-State honoree and scored over 100 career goals while being named team MVP as a junior and senior.

Lillian Lesniewski is a freshman from Seymour, Tennessee and a four-year varsity starter at Seymour High School. She earned All-Region honors as a junior after leading the team in scoring with 25 goals and seven assists.

DEFENSE

The Pioneers will look to a number of players to make contributions on the defensive side of the field.

Freshmen Shelby Gray and Christen Craig will be called upon as crease defenders and vocal leaders on the back line. Gray (Belews Creek, N.C.) was a three-year letter-winner and All-Conference selection at East Forsyth High School. In her career, she totaled 91 ground balls, 15 takeaways, four goals, and a .644 faceoff percentage. Craig is a native of Birmingham, Alabama and a product of Spain Park High School where she was named to the Mississippi-Alabama All-State First Team.

Handshoe will also be looking to freshmen Rachel Del Duca and Deryn Candelaria to make significant contributions to the defensive effort. Del Duca (New Providence, N.J.) is a product of New Providence High School where she tallied 63 career ground balls and five points on two goals and three assists. Candelaria (Durango, Colo.) played at Durango High School where she tallied 30 takeaways and 21 ground balls in her final two seasons, en route to being named Varsity Defensive MVP following both campaigns.

Freshman Brooke Wagner and junior Kaitlin Winnie are both expected to see time in goal for the Pioneers.

Wagner is from Snellville, Georgia and a three-year letter-winner at Brookwood High School. She registered 137 saves, two ground balls and a pair of interceptions in her senior campaign, and recorded 97 saves, two ground balls and nine interceptions as a junior.

Winnie is a native of Accord, New York and is expected to see time in goal as well as in the field. Last season as a sophomore at Herkimer College, she had 18 caused turnovers, 14 ground balls, and one draw control.

Handshoe has also recruited five Tusculum women's soccer players to join the program this season: Senior Jenique Thombs (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada), senior Nikki Arthur (Brights Grove, Ontario, Canada), senior Katie Chadwick (New Ringgold, Pa.), junior Coneisha Waugh (Ajax, Ontario, Canada), and sophomore Kelli McCalla (Austin, Texas). All five players are expected to see time in the midfield and defensive positions and will add speed and athleticism.

Following the game at Converse this weekend, Tusculum will play its first ever contest at Pioneer Field on Friday, Feb. 13 against Saint Andrews University at 7 p.m. TC will open SAC play at Lenoir-Rhyne on Feb. 21, and will close out the regular season at home on April 11 against the defending SAC champions Queens.

The SAC Tournament begins on April 13 with quarterfinal matchups hosted by the higher seeded team. The semifinals and finals will take place on April 17-18 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament will be played on May 9 at campus sites. The national semifinals and championship game will be held at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Virginia on May 16 and 17.

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