SPARTANBURG, S.C. (2/1/2018) -- Five University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse student-athletes received preseason honors from the Southern Conference as the Titans had the most players on the inaugural 14-member preseason All-SoCon Team. It's the first season of women's lacrosse in the Southern Conference, which has six teams in 2018.

Senior defenders Emma Mucci (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Lauren Webley (Whitby, Ont. / Donald A. Wilson), junior midfielder Morgan Girardi (Watertown, N.Y.), junior attack Lexie Kinmond (Peterborough, Ont. / Holy Cross Catholic) and red-shirt sophomore Kaitlyn Wandelt (Sayville, N.Y.) all earned preseason All-Southern Conference team laurels from the league office.

The Titans, in their 10th season of women's lacrosse and second under head coach Laurie Merian, were picked to finish fourth in the inaugural SoCon preseason coaches poll, as voted on by the head coaches of the league. Head coaches couldn't vote for their own teams in the poll.

Furman received three of the six first-place votes and edged out Mercer for the top spot in total votes, 23-22. The Titans, with 14 points, were just behind Central Michigan, who garnered 17 points. First-year program Wofford (nine votes) and Delaware State (five) rounded out the six-team poll.

Webley and Mucci, both two-year captains, have been staples of the back line for the past three seasons. Webley has started the past 43 games for the Titans and led Titan field players with 46 ground balls, while also leading the squad with 23 caused turnovers in 2017. She was seventh in the ASUN Conference and 49th in the nation in ground balls per game (2.65) last season.

Mucci was a Second Team All-ASUN honoree on defense in 2017 after ranking fifth in the league and 50th in the NCAA in draw controls per game (3.82). She corralled 65 draw controls last season, which was the second-most in school history. She has started 36 of 37 games in the past two seasons for Detroit Mercy.

Girardi and Kinmond tied for the team lead in goals last year with 43 apiece. Girardi tallied 50 points last season adding seven assists to 43 goals. She led the ASUN Conference and ranked 10th in the NCAA last season in free-position goals per game (1.06), tallying 18 FPG on the season.

Kinmond, a First Team All-Conference attacker in 2017, led the Titans and ranked fourth in the ASUN with 71 points total. In league games, Kinmond was second in the league with 45 points (29 goals, 16 assists) in 10 contests. She was second in the ASUN in points per game (4.18).

Wandelt, the ASUN Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Conference in 2016, missed most of the season last season due to an injury, but scored 12 goals in six contests. In her first year as a Titan in 2016, she led all Division I freshmen in six different categories -- goals (64), goals per game (3.20), points (75), points per game (3.75), free-position goals per game (0.95) and caused turnovers per game (1.50). She broke the single-season school record for draw controls (73) and free-position goals (19) and was top-two in the ASUN in nearly every statistical category.

The Titans open the 2018 season on Sunday, Feb. 11 at Big Ten foe Northwestern University. Detroit Mercy plays its first five games of the 10th season of women's lacrosse away from Titan Field and Detroit before hosting Saint Francis on March 15 in its home opener.

2018 Preseason SoCon Coaches Poll
Team (1st-place votes) -- Total
1. Furman (3) -- 23
2. Mercer (2) -- 22
3. Central Michigan (1) -- 17
4. Detroit Mercy -- 14
5. Wofford -- 9
6. Delaware State -- 5
 
2018 Preseason All-SoCon Team
A -- Emma Hamilton, Central Michigan
A -- Lexie Kinmond, Detroit Mercy
A -- Abby Shields, Furman
A -- Kate Leone, Mercer
M -- Jocelyne Lemay, Central Michigan
M -- Morgan Girardi, Detroit Mercy
M -- Kaitlyn Wandelt, Detroit Mercy
M -- Sophie Brennan, Furman
M -- Lindsey Zeltwanger, Mercer
D -- Logan Halvorson, Central Michigan
D -- Emma Mucci, Detroit Mercy
D -- Lauren Webley, Detroit Mercy
D -- Audrey Roberston, Mercer
GK -- Haleigh Wurzel, Mercer