By Mike Livingston
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/7/26
BETHLEHEM – It hasn’t been that long since the St. Joseph’s women’s lacrosse team was the Atlantic 10 Conference champion.
But that title might as well feel a world away.
The 2022 season was the last time the Hawks hoisted an A-10 title banner. It was also the last time St. Joe’s beat Lehigh out on the field. The win came on a chilly February day at Sweeney Field, where the Hawks came out on top 13-11.
Now, four years later, St. Joe’s kicked off its 2026 campaign Friday on a similarly cold day, with some snowflakes falling, and claimed just its third-ever victory over the Mountain Hawks in an 11-10 nail-biter at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
Coming off an A-10 championship game loss to UMass last season and a semifinals loss to that same team from Amherst a year prior, the Hawks have a clear goal in mind: to return to the top of the A-10.
“I think we have some great leaders on our team,” said 12th-year head coach Alex Kahoe (Agnes Irwin), a recent Eastern PA Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee. “Last year, I think it was exciting being in the championship, but not good enough. We want that championship in the A-10 Conference. Our upperclassmen and our returners from last year came back with a chip on their shoulders, so they’ve got something to prove and they’re doing whatever it takes to get it done.”
Two of the Hawks’ returning players became catalysts in Friday afternoon’s victory, as the duo of Kate Fuhrman and Megan Sanelli (Methacton) combined for eight of St. Joe’s 11 goals.
Fuhrman, a senior attack, started every game for the Hawks last season while recording 57 points. Coming in as one of the names expected to step up in 2026, she recorded four points with three goals and an assist for SJU.
For Sanelli, on the other hand, the Collegeville native has already tallied half of her 2025 point total through one game. After recording eight points in 2025, she put up four goals on Friday.
And while both Fuhrman and Sanelli played on last year’s championship runner-up squad, they represent well what this St. Joe’s lineup is coming into 2026 as: a combination of experienced, battle-tested vets and an eager group of youngsters getting their first shots at the starting rotation.
Names like Fuhrman and Episcopal Academy graduate Alexa Capozzoli headline the vets, while other returners like Springfield Twp. product Emma Yoder, Kaylyn Williams, Ellie Webb and Claire Fowler fill out a majority of the starting lineup.
On the other hand, names like Sanelli, Olivia McCloskey, Governor Mifflin’s Sophie Stanislawczyk, Riley Miller and Bayard Rustin product Elizabeth McGurk (6DC, 2GB) have been tasked with stepping up into bigger roles this season for the Hawks.
“It’s a new year,” said Kahoe. “Even just starting off the season with a win today, that’s great. It’s great getting ourselves off on the right foot. So I think coming together in our nonconference, we’re able to step out and compete every day and play great St. Joe’s lacrosse. But it is also an opportunity to learn more about who we are as we continue to progress.
“Obviously, we want to be our best in April and May. So we’re looking at all of these (non-conference games) as great opportunities to compete and hopefully to be successful in these games in terms of the outcome.”
Since the Hawks’ 2022 title run, the non-conference slate has been an issue for St. Joe’s, which went just 2-7 outside of the A-10 in 2025. The out-of-league struggles have become a big reason the Hawks haven’t returned to the national tournament.
That made the Hawks’ season-opening win over Lehigh that much more important, and the way they prevailed all the more impressive.
After starting out with a commanding 5-0 lead as the Hawks peppered Lehigh freshman goalie Micaela Jennings in her college debut, Lehigh began to scrap back into things.
The effort began with a Grace Martel goal in the second to make it 5-1 St. Joe’s. That, however, was quickly met with a pair of scores by Capozzoli and Archbishop Carroll grad Michaela Henry, making the score 7-1.
The Mountain Hawks then responded with three consecutive goals to bring the tally to 7-4 by halftime.
And despite a pair of goals from Sanelli which kept the score knotted, the third quarter was dominated by Lehigh, which recorded four goals to make it a 9-8 game going into the final period of play.
“I think it was just that we were getting too overwhelmed,” said Sanelli. “We just took the lead and didn’t think about the little mistakes we were making. But in the fourth quarter, we were able to capitalize and keep going strong, not letting the mistakes get in our heads.”
Sanelli got the Hawks back on the board first, just a minute into the fourth, making it 10-8 St. Joe’s. This, however, came just before Shannon Nolan (5G, 2GB) recorded her third and fourth goals of the day, which eventually tied things up at 10 apiece before a Fuhrman goal gave St. Joe’s the lead for good with about two minutes to go in the final quarter.
“That’s an amazing first game,” said Sanelli. “It was a good game, tough all around. I think we just brought the intensity in the fourth quarter and even if we made mistakes, we just let it go and moved on to the next play.”
The Hawks will continue their nonconference slate as they attempt to build on their season-opening win with a matchup against Temple at Springfield Delco High School next Wednesday at 5 p.m.
As for the Mountain Hawks – who got a goal and three assists from Molly Snow and two groundballs and a caused turnover from freshman Cara Childs (Penncrest) – they’ll look ahead to next Saturday when they’ll match up with Loyola Maryland back in Bethlehem.
