MISENHEIMER — This past weekend in Misenheimer, Pfeiffer University provided its annual welcome-back event at Merner Gym for the 460-plus Falcon student-athletes as fall sports prepare for the 2024 season.
The Pfeiffer athletic department and coaching staff were introduced prior to a full group photo on Sunday. With preseason scrimmages currently underway, the Falcons’ athletic season officially kicks off on Friday afternoon.
The Pfeiffer volleyball team will be the first Falcon squad to compete in non-exhibition competition as the group travels to Emory University in Atlanta to face former USA South rival Huntingdon College in the Jenny McDowell Invitational at 4 p.m.
Both the Pfeiffer men’s and women’s soccer teams are scheduled to host a Friday doubleheader at Lefko-Mills Field in Misenheimer as the first soccer games played on the newly-installed artificial turf, completed last winter.
The men will start at 5 p.m. against Guilford College, followed by the women’s match against former USA South rival Averett University at 7 p.m.
In other Pfeiffer sports news, the university’s athletic department announced earlier this month that men’s lacrosse coach Tucker Nelson has been appointed as Pfeiffer’s director of lacrosse, while Julia Barbato has been named to lead the women’s lacrosse program.
Nelson, who has led the Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse program for the past four years, boasts a career record of 55-19 (.743) and has guided the team to USA South championships in 2021, 2023, and 2024.
He will now oversee both the men’s and women’s teams, managing responsibilities such as recruiting, budgeting, and game scheduling.
“New challenge, excited to take it on,” Nelson wrote in a social media post. “Thank you to all those who have and continue to support Pfeiffer lacrosse. Go Falcons!”
Over for the women’s lacrosse team, Barbato — a 2024 Pfeiffer graduate — will step in as interim head coach after a distinguished four-year playing career with the Falcons.
She holds prominent positions in the Pfeiffer record book, ranking second in career points (226), third in career assists (73), fourth in career goals (153), and 10th in career caused turnovers (74).
She is also tied with former Falcon standout and current High Point coach Lyndsey Boswell for the most points in a single game, scoring 14 points in 2021 with eight goals and six assists against Brevard.
Barbato earned Second Team All-USA South honors as a midfielder in 2024 and was also named to the USA South West Division Team in 2021; she started in 56 of the 58 games she played, amassing 153 career goals and 73 career assists for a total of 226 points.
The Pfeiffer lacrosse men’s and women’s teams finished the 2023 season with records of 16-2 and 5-13, respectively.