Big South Announces 2023 Preseason Women's Lacrosse Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Defending Big South Women’s Lacrosse Champion
Mercer University has been voted the preseason favorite in the annual preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the Conference office. The Bears are the preseason favorite for the first time since becoming associate members in 2022. In addition, High Point attacker
Mena Loescher (Basking Ridge, N.J.) is the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Campbell’s
Sam Bischoff (Pomona, N.Y.) is the Preseason Midfielder of the Year, and Camels’ defender
Rebekah Taylor (Forest Hill, Md.) is the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honoree.
Mercer received eight of the 10 first-place votes and 98 of the 100 possible points to win the Big South Women’s Lacrosse crown in 2023. The Bears enter the 2023 campaign with 19 letterwinners and nine starters returning from the 2022 squad that shared the regular-season title with an 8-1 Big South record.
High Point finished second in the preseason poll with 89 points and received one first-place vote, while
Campbell was third with 78 points and the remaining first-place plaudit. Associate member
Furman finished fourth in the voting with 67 points, followed by
Winthrop in the fifth spot at 55 points.
Gardner-Webb landed in sixth-place with 44 points, and associate member
Wofford received 37 points for the seventh spot in the poll.
Longwood and
Radford tied for the eighth position with 34 points each, with
Presbyterian College (10th, 14 points) rounding out the preseason ranking.
Loescher started all 19 matches in 2022 and finished the campaign second on the Panthers’ squad with 76 points. She tallied 46 goals and 30 assists last season in helping HPU tie for the regular-season championship and finish runner-up in the Big South Tournament. An Honorable Mention All-Big South honoree in 2021, Loescher picked up 21 ground balls a season ago, and netted a Big South Championship Semifinal record 11 points vs. Gardner-Webb on May 6. Loescher posted a hat trick eight times in 2022 -- including seven goals vs. Winthrop on April 6, and concluded the season ranked in the Big South Top 10 in goals per game (2.42), assists per game (1.58), and points per game (4.00). In league matches last season, Loescher scored 27 goals with 14 assists for 41 points, which ranked fourth in the conference.
Loescher received four first-place votes and 20 total points in this year’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year voting, ahead of Mercer attacker
Chloe Schaeffer (18 points, four first-place votes) and Furman attacker
Meagan Beal (9 points, two first-place votes).
Bischoff was the Big South Midfielder of the Year honoree in 2022, and is a two-time First-Team All-Big South performer in her career. She led all Big South midfielders last season and ranked third overall with a career-high 55 goals, as well as fourth in points per game (4.06). She tallied 12 hat tricks with three games of five or more goals. Bischoff led the team with 63 points, hitting career single-game highs with seven goals and nine points in Campbell’s 17-14 win at High Point on March 30. In nine Big South matches, Bischoff scored 32 goals and netted 36 points, for averages of 3.56 goals per game and 4.00 points per game, while recording 20 draw controls.
She collected six first-place votes and 22 total points in this year’s Preseason Midfielder of the Year voting, ahead of High Point’s
Emma Genovese (15 points, two first-place votes) and Mercer’s
Lyndsey Lewis (12 points, one first-place vote).
Taylor was the Big South Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, and earned First-Team All-Conference honors for the second-straight season. She ranked second in the conference in caused turnovers per game (1.76), and led the Camels in ground balls (37) and caused turnovers (30). Her 30 turnovers caused tied the single-season program record and were second-most in the Big South. She controlled a season-high six ground balls in Campbell’s 17-14 win at High Point on March 30, and caused a season-best five turnovers in an April 13 victory over Gardner-Webb. Taylor helped lead the Camels to national top-10 rankings in caused turnovers (seventh) and ground balls (third). In conference matches, the Camels were tops with 14.00 caused turnovers per game.
She collected four first-place votes and 18 total points in this year’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year voting, ahead of Mercer defender
Emma Pizzo (15 points, three first-place votes) and High Point goalkeeper
Taylor Suplee (13 points, three first-place votes).
Loescher, Bischoff and Taylor also earned spots on the preseason All-Conference team, which is listed below. The team is comprised of three attackers, three midfielders, three defenders, one goalkeeper and three at-large selections, as well as any ties.
The first Big South conference match is scheduled for Wednesday, March 29, and the 2023 Big South Women’s Lacrosse Championship tournament is slated for May 5-7 at the No. 1 seed. The top four teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the conference tournament, and the champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2023 WOMEN’S LACROSSE PRESEASON POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Mercer (8) |
98 |
| 2 - High Point (1) |
89 |
| 3 - Campbell (1) |
78 |
| 4 - Furman |
67 |
| 5 - Winthrop |
55 |
| 6 - Gardner-Webb |
44 |
| 7 - Wofford |
37 |
| T-8 - Longwood |
34 |
| T-8 - Radford |
34 |
| 10 - Presbyterian College |
14 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 10 points, followed by 9 points for second-place, and so on.
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
ATT - Mena Loescher, Gr., High Point
ATT - Meagan Beal, Sr., Furman
ATT - Chloe Schaeffer, Sr., Mercer
MF - Sam Bischoff, Jr., Campbell
MF - Emma Genovese, Gr., High Point
MF - Lyndsey Lewis, Sr., Mercer
D - Rebekah Taylor, Jr., Campbell
D - Emma Pizzo, Gr., Mercer
D - Heather Lobas, Gr., Gardner-Webb
GK - Taylor Suplee, R-Sr., High Point
AL - Jada Preston, ATT, Gr., Gardner-Webb
AL - Hannah Dintino, MF, Sr., Furman
AL - Danielle Burke, GK, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb
PRESEASON OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Mena Loescher, ATT, Gr., High Point
PRESEASON MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR
Sam Bischoff, Jr., Campbell
PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Rebekah Taylor, D, Jr., Campbell