Big South Announces 2020 Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll and Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point University has unanimously been voted the preseason favorite in the annual Big South Conference Women’s Lacrosse preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the conference office. The Panthers -- last year’s conference champion -- are the preseason favorite for the seventh time in the eight years the league has sponsored women’s lacrosse. In addition, HPU junior attacker Abby Hormes (Fallston, Md.) is the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, with teammate and redshirt-senior defender Meredith Chapman (Apex, N.C.) the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honoree.
High Point received all seven first-place votes and the maximum 49 points to win the Big South Women’s Lacrosse crown in 2020. Last season, the Panthers went 15-5 overall, won the regular-season championship with a 6-0 record, and claimed its fifth Big South title. HPU returns 20 letterwinners and eight starters from 2019 -- including six All-Conference performers and three All-Tournament team members.
Winthrop, last year’s Tournament Runner-Up, finished second in the preseason poll with 38 points, while Campbell was third with 33 points. Longwood finished fourth in the voting with 31 points, followed by Radford in the fifth spot with 23 points. Gardner-Webb landed in sixth-place with 14 points, and Presbyterian College received eight points for the seventh and final spot in the poll.
Hormes was the 2019 Big South Offensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference selection after leading the conference with 103 points, 5.15 points per match, 66 goals scored, 37 assists and 1.85 assists per match. In Big South matches, Hormes paced the conference with 27 goals, 4.50 goals per contest, and 19 assists and was the only player to average more than three assists per Big South game at 3.17. Named Big South Offensive Player of the Week twice during the 2019 regular season, Hormes posted 16 multi-goal games, including at least five goals in a game four times, tallied multi-goal efforts in all six league contests, and set records of six goals and 10 points in the Big South Finals en route to Tournament MVP honors. She received five first-place votes and 16 total points in the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year voting, ahead of Winthrop attacker Lauren Morris (11 points, two first-place votes) and Longwood midfielder Kaitlin Luccarelli (nine points).
Chapman was the 2019 Big South Defensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-Big South honoree. She anchored a High Point defense that held its Big South opponents to just 4.51 goals per match. Chapman recorded a league-leading 53 caused turnovers and was one of two players to average more than two caused turnovers per game with a conference-best 2.65. In league action, she corralled 13 ground balls, 29 draw controls and 13 caused turnovers. Named the Big South Defensive Player of the Week twice, she caused at least four or more turnovers on five occasions -- including a Big South Tournament-record seven in the 2019 Semifinals vs. Campbell. Chapman collected five first-place votes and 16 total points in the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year voting, ahead of Radford defender Katie Bendrick (10 points, one first-place vote) and Winthrop midfielder Lauren Asher (one first-palce vote) and Longwood defender Corri Calandra, who tied with eight points each.
Both Hormes and Chapman earned a spot 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.
The 2020 Big South women’s lacrosse season begins Friday, Feb. 7 with three matches. The first conference weekend is set for Saturday, March 28, and the 2020 Big South Women’s Lacrosse Championship tournament is slated for April 24 & 26 at the No. 1 seed. The top four teams qualify for the postseason event and the champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2020 BIG SOUTH WOMEN'S LACROSSE PRESEASON POLL
| Rk - Team (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (7) |
49 |
| 2 - Winthrop |
38 |
| 3 - Campbell |
33 |
| 4 - Longwood |
31 |
| 5 - Radford |
23 |
| 6 - Gardner-Webb |
14 |
| 7 - Presbyterian College |
8 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 7 points, followed by 6 points for second-place, and so on.
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
ATT - Abby Hormes, Jr., High Point
ATT - Lauren Morris, Jr., Winthrop
ATT - Mia Creighton, Soph., Winthrop
MF - Ashley Britton, Sr., High Point
MF - Sam Carey, Sr., Campbell
MF - Kaitlin Luccarelli, Sr., Longwood
D - Meredith Chapman, R-Sr., High Point
D - Katie Bendrick, Soph., Radford
D - Corri Calandra, Sr., Longwood
GK - Sarah Zeto, Jr., High Point
AL - Nicole Fordyce, Soph., Longwood
AL - Brittany Rinaldi, R-Sr., Radford
AL - McKenna Blick, Jr., Winthrop
PRESEASON OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Abby Hormes, ATT, Jr., High Point
PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Meredith Chapman, D, R-Sr., High Point