August 18, 2010

2010 IWLCA All American Banquet & Photos

IWLCA Major Awards Named for 2010 season

Positional Players of the Year, Scholar-Athletes,

and Community Awareness Honorees named

The IWLCA has honored 18 student-athletes for their achievements during the 2010 season, including 12 positional players of the year as well as three IWLCA Scholar-Athletes and three IWLCA Community Awareness recipients. The presentations were made at the IWLCA All-American Banquet, held at the Crown Valley Plaza in King of Prussia, Pa. on June 12. The 18 student-athletes include four from Division II national champion Adelphi, two from Division I national champion Maryland, and two each from Division III semifinalists Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg. In addition to the positional Player of the Year awards, the IWLCA also recognizes student-athletes with the Community Awareness Award and the Scholar-Athlete designation. One student-athlete is selected from each division for each of the two honors. The Community Awareness Award recognizes those student-athletes who have contributed significantly to their community in a given year. These students have given their time and energy to support and develop athlete-community relations and have distinguished themselves from their peers. The Scholar-Athlete award is presented to that student-athlete who has distinguished herself in particular in both the classroom and on the playing field.

Jennifer Bush from Keuka College earned the Community Awareness Award. Bush has been involved heavily with the American Cancer Society. She organized a community service project to raise money to American Cancer Society, in which the participants sold cancer ribbons of all different colors where students, faculty, and staff could write a name of a person who has or has not survived cancer. Bush also coordinated a 3v3 tournament to help raise money for the ACS, as well as a drive in which supporters could purchase daffodils to raise money and awareness. She also organized the collection of school supplies and donated the supplies to the Red Cross Chapter so that the families who use the Red Cross could send their children to school with supplies. They also collected items for the Necessity Drive like personal hygiene items and donated it to the Red Cross to help serve around 30 families that are signed up with the Red Cross. The junior from New York is also very active during holiday seasons. In the winter, Bush organized workers for Angel Tree Contributions, which required the assistance to cut, write out information, and decorate angels to put on two Christmas trees at Keuka. Faculty, staff, and students pick the Angels to buy either a toy, clothing, or both and give there donations to the community service advocates to organize and wrap. The first weekend in December, Bush helped with the delivery to Family and Child Resource Center. In the spring, Bush led community service advocates in an expedition to purchase goodies for Easter baskets that were then delivered to local head start programs in the area.

Kian Lyons from C. W. Post was named the Community Awareness Award recipient. Lyons organized C. W. Post student-athletes to fundraise and plunge into the ocean for the Polar Bear Plunge, in February 2010, in which they raised close to $1200. She also ran Pioneering for Ava, a fundraising event during their men's and women's lacrosse game to help awareness and receive donations for research for Nemaline Myopathy. Lyons organized tables, raffles, and other things for the event, at which they raised over $1000.00. Lyons helped teach children with Autism how to ride bicycles. The New York native helped the Recycling Club spread the word about recycling by setting up a competition between the athletic teams on campus. Every sport was involved, and Lyons had to collect and count all the recyclables to see which team won. She then recycled the water bottles and soda cans and donated the money to the "Taking a Village" campaign on campus.

Vanderbilt’s Diana Keenan has been involved in numerous community service initiatives during her three years at Vanderbilt. Diana has spent time volunteering at the Andrew Jackson Boys and Girls Club, the Ronald McDonald House, the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, Cumberland Heights' nationally recognized alcohol and drug treatment center, and House of Mercy, a halfway home for mothers recovering from alcohol or drug addiction. Through Vanderbilt's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Diana has participated in events like the Ross Elementary Christmas party and Westmeade Elementary Field Day. Diana has also found ways to combine her passions, connecting athletics and service through Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and Swim Across America, an organization which raises money for cancer awareness. With the Nashville chapter of Girls on the Run, Diana coached elementary girls to develop and sustain an active lifestyle and healthy self-image.

2010 IWLCA Community Awareness Award Winners

Nicole Ditillo from Gettysburg was named the IWLCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Division III. The senior was named the Elite 88 Award winner at DIII with the highest GPA of all players at the NCAA Championships. Ditillo, a team captain in 2010, earned Academic All-District honors and was an Academic All-American Third Team in 2009. The double major in Psychology and English was named to the Centennial Academic Honor Roll and was an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship Nominee. Ditillo held Gettysburg’s spring sport-highest GPA and was awarded the President Riggs Endowed 1977 Scholarship as the highest performer in Psychology Department. She was a member of the Centennial Conference second team and earned Defender of the Week honors in the Centennial Conference.

First-team All-American Jackie Craig from Stonehill earned IWLCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors. An IWLCA All-East Region first team for the fourth-straight year as well as an All-Northeast-10 Conference first team for the third consecutive time, Craig was named to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I first team. She also earned the Edward E. Martin Scholar-Athlete Award recipient as top senior female scholar-athlete. Craig was awarded the Saint Thomas Aquinas medal for having the top cumulative GPA on the team and was named to the NE-10 All-Academic team honors three years and to the NE-10 Commissioner’s honor roll.

Jill Davis from La Salle earned the IWLCA Scholar-Athlete honors for this season. A First Team All Atlantic Ten Conference honoree, she was a two-time Atlantic Ten Conference Player of the Week. Davis, the Women's Lacrosse Scholar Athlete of the Year for the Atlantic Ten Conference, was named to COSIDA/ESPN Academic All-District team. The special education major was named the La Salle University student athlete of the month, and La Salle University Student Athlete of the week twice. In addition, the senior was honored as the La Salle University Scholar Athlete of the year, which is awarded to athlete with the highest GPA. Davis was selected to the Atlantic Ten Commissioner’s Honor Roll for every semester she was eligible to earn this award.

2010 IWLCA Scholar-Athletes of the Year

In Division III, Sarah McKinley earned her second consecutive National Defender of the Year honor after leading the Sea Gulls to the national championship. A pair of teammates at Franklin & Marshall took home National Player of the Year awards as Lidia Sanza was named the C. Markland Kelly Goalie of the Year and Blake Hargest kept the National Attacker of the Year honor in Lancaster with her selection. This is Sanza’s first selection to the IWLCA First Team, and her fifth All-American honor overall. She allowed 6.39 goals per 60 minutes and turned away 52.5 percent of the shots she faced in 2010. Her teammate Hargest earned her fourth All-America honor of her career and is making her second appearance on a First Team this season. She scored 54 goals and assisted on 38 more for a career-high 92 points in 2010. She graduates as the Diplomats and Centennial Conference's leading point getter with 341 in her career. Gettysburg’s Hollis Stahl, the National Midfielder of the Year, gives the Centennial Conference four honorees. Stahl is a first-team All-American for the second consecutive year. The first back-to-back winner of the Centennial Conference Player of the Year, Stahl put up 73 points and 58 goals out of the midfield and led Gettysburg in ground balls and draw controls. She is the school’s second all-time leading goal scorer with 192.

2010 IWLCA Division III Players of the Year

In Division II, the Adelphi Panthers swept the positional players of the year awards, with Cailtin Fitzpatrick repeating her honor as the C. Markland Kelly Goalie of the Year. A 2009 first-team member, Fitzpatrick helped guide the Panthers to back-to-back National Championships. The NE-10 Goalkeeper of the Year and first-team All-NE-10 member, Fitzpatrick totaled 20 saves in the National Tournament (14 in the championship). She finished second in the nation in save percentage (.584) and goals against average (7.17). Fitzpatrick posted a 19-1 record in 1074:31 minutes in net. True rookie Demmianne Cook earned National Midfielder of the Year honors in her first season at the collegiate level. The only true freshman to be named IWLCA first-team All-American, Cook was named NE-10 and ECAC Rookie of the Year, while also receiving first-team All-NE-10 honors. Cook finished the year third on the team in goals (52), fourth in points (63), and added 11 assists. She also added 59 ground balls. The freshman midfielder scored five goals in the Panthers’ NCAA semifinal win against C.W. Post. A pair of transfers, Claire Petersen and Kristin Jones, won Attacker of the Year and Defender of the Year, respectively. A transfer from Catholic University, Petersen has received Northeast-10 Conference and ECAC Player of the Year honors. She has also been selected as a nominee for the 2009-2010 Collegiate Women Sports Awards Division II Athlete of the Year. Petersen led the nation in points (128), points per game (6.78), assists (81) and assists per game (4.22). She has also scored 47 goals and picked up 59 ground balls. Jones, a transfer from Mount Saint Mary’s, Jones won the NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year and was named first-team All-Conference in her first season with the Brown and Gold. Jones collected a team-high 62 ground balls and caused a team-best 38 turnovers. She also added a goal and an assist offensively this year for the Panthers.

2010 IWLCA Division II Players of the Year

In Division I, Caitlyn McFadden from Maryland won her second consecutive Midfielder of the Year honor after leading the Terrapins to the national championship. The 2010 Tewaaraton recipient, McFadden was a two-time ACC Player of the Year, two-time Most Outstanding Player of the ACC Tournament, and the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Players. Her teammate Karissa Taylor helped the Terrapins post the top scoring defense in Division I and was named the National Defender of the Year. Northwestern’s Katrina Dowd, their opponent in the national final, was named the National Attacker of the Year after ranking second in the nation in points with 110 and ranking in the top-30 nationally in draw controls per game. Syracuse’s Liz Hogan was named the C. Markland Kelly National Goalie of the Year after helping the Orange win a pair of road games to advance to the national semifinals. She led the nation in saves and ranked second in save percentage (.525). Hogan, the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, reached double figures in 11 games. She set single-season records for saves and ground balls in 2010.