The stars seemed aligned with a regular-season conference title and G-MAC Championship hosting responsibilities in tow for Davis & Elkins entering the 2015 playoffs.
Add to the fact D&E swept all individual league awards with G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year, G-MAC Freshman of the Year, G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year and G-MAC Coach of the Year, and the Senators had all the pieces of the puzzle in place.
Unfortunately, all the good things came to an end for Davis & Elkins in a tough semifinal matchup against Cedarville and the Senators saw their fantastic season run cut short.
But despite the postseason heartbreak, Davis & Elkins is ready to prove it belongs near the top heading into a season ranked third in the preseason coaches poll.
The program welcomed in a new coach with Division I pedigree at Penn State in Meghan Gill. The preseason will be a good indicator for Gill as she gets quickly acclimated to the program.
Gill was a midfielder/defender for the Nittany Lions and will bring that hard-nosed mindset to D&E after serving as an assistant for Columbia College in Missouri.
The Senators had no trouble scoring in 2015, outscoring their opponents 82-15. D&E completed the regular-season sweep against tournament champ Cedarville and assembled a nine-game win streak with five straight shutouts midseason. Davis & Elkins averaged almost five goals per game to lead the entire country and pulled together as a unit following a season-opening double-overtime setback against Malone.
Sophomore forward Katrina Giantsopoulos was a sensational scoring and point machine in her first year at the collegiate level. She led the entire NCAA Division II in multiple scoring categories and is setting a torrid pace for the career record books.
It will be interesting to see if opponents mark her any differently in year two and what adjustments she will try and make. She erupted for 70 points on just 82 shots and had 29 goals with 12 assists.
Kaitlyn Buoni was second on the team with 14 goals and three assists as she enters her senior season. Morton graduated after winning G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year and provided plenty of scoring punch from the back line with six goals and six assists.
Sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Hill made the all-conference team as a rookie and will only get better following seven wins and a 1.13 goals against average. Another impressive sophomore in net, Samantha Wehri, made the most of her opportunities and was 5-0 in just eight games.
Head Coach: Meghan Gill (1st season)
2015 Record (Overall): 14-4-0
2015 Record (Conference): 12-2-0
2015 All-Conference Performers: Katrina Giantsopoulos (First Team; G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year; G-MAC Freshman of the Year), Taylor Morton (First Team; G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year), Lauren Hill (Second Team; All-Freshman Team), Tessa Stewart (All-Freshman Team)
Quotable: “Collectively, as a team, we’re looking to win the G-MAC. Last year being ranked sixth we were underestimated a lot and so teams came in thinking they were going to beat us .I think being ranked third this year is an eye-opener for a lot of the teams in the conference that we are a good contender for a championship. We want to win. We want a bid to the NCAA (Tournament) and I think we can get there with the group of girls we have this year.”
- Davis & Elkins sophomore forward Katrina Giantsopoulos
Records Watch: Katrina Giantsopoulos led the country and set single-season conference records in the following categories: points (70), points per game (3.89) and goals per game (1.61)…Already she is sixth in conference career history in points, sixth in goals and also in the top 10 in assists…She has time to maintain her conference career-leading pace of points per game and goals per game…Also noted is the fact she leads all players in assists per game at 0.67 through one season…Kaitlyn Buoni is quietly creeping up the career points category with 49 and is ninth…She’s currently tied for eighth in goals scored with 22.