All-BIG EAST Honorees
NEW YORK – On the eve of the BIG EAST Women’s Lacrosse Championship, presented by the Jeep Brand, the Conference announced the regular-season awards, with reigning champion Florida taking home five major awards. Senior Nicole Graziano becomes the second consecutive unanimously selected BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year out of Florida, joining fellow Gator major award winners Sammi Burgess (BIG EAST Co-Attacker of the Year), Caroline Fitzgerald (BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year) and Lindsey Ronbeck (BIG EAST Freshman of the Year), while Florida and Temple shared BIG EAST Co-Coaching Staffs of the Year honors. Burgess was honored along with Connecticut’s Grace Nolan as Co-Attackers of the Year. UConn’s Shannon Nee was voted BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year for the second straight year.
Graziano and Fitzgerald are just days off being named to the Tewaaraton Award Top 25 List, an honor which annually recognizes the top collegiate lacrosse player. Graziano led the conference in goals at 2.57 per league contest while listing fourth in points at 3.43 per outing. She ranks among the national leaders in goals, assists, points and caused turnovers, entering the postseason on a 16-game scoring streak. The senior reached the career century mark in goals on April 24, becoming the sixth Florida player to do so. She was tabbed the BIG EAST Midfielder of the Week five times in 2016.
Fitzgerald, Florida’s first BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, anchors a Gator defense which surrenders just 7.24 goals per game to rank 12
th nationally. Florida outshoots its opponents nearly 2-to-1, with the Gators being just one of two BIG EAST teams along with Temple, to hold their opponents to under 20 shots per game on average. The junior leads Florida with 39 ground balls and is among the leaders in caused turnovers and draw controls.
Burgess is one of the most consistent threats on the Gator offense, having recorded a point in 21 straight games dating back to the 2015 campaign, and scoring a goal in 15 of the last 17 contests. Her .808 on goal percentage in league play is best on the team and she enters the postseason four goals shy of the career century mark. Burgess currently has 44 points off 33 goals and 11 assists. Among her season highlights were scoring the game winner against then-No. 2 Syracuse, scoring four goals against then-No. 14 Boston College, and tacking then-No. 17 Towson for five points.
Burgess is the first BIG EAST Attacker of the Year out of Florida, while Grace Nolan is the first Attacker of the Year out of UConn. Nolan enters the BIG EAST Semifinals as the league’s leader in points per game at 3.73, while listing second in goals (2.73) and fifth in assists (1.00). She ranks in the top 100 of all NCAA players in seven statistical categories, and the top 50 in goals and assists per game. Nolan was tabbed BIG EAST Attacker of the Week twice this season, one of only two players to repeat the award in 2016.
Since the league added Goalkeeper of the Year in 2015, Nee has had a stranglehold on the award, claiming it in back-to-back seasons. The four-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week in 2016 leads the BIG EAST and ranks 11
th nationally with a .513 save percentage, setting a program single-season mark for wins (12), and ranking second in the league with a 9.56 goals against average. The three-time All-BIG EAST First Team selection cracked the conference career record book, posting 229 saves in four season of BIG EAST play to list fifth all-time in league history.
A four-time BIG EAST Freshman of the Week selection, Ronbeck also garnered the national rookie weekly honor on April 19. The newcomer tied Graziano for the BIG EAST lead in goals per game during conference play at 2.57 per outing, while earning the points-per-game title outright at 3.86 per clip. Ronbeck added 1.29 assists per game over seven conference games, while notching the game-winning goal three times to lead all league players. She is Florida’s first BIG EAST Freshman of the Year honoree.
Led by head coach Amanda O’Leary, Florida completed BIG EAST play with a perfect 7-0 record, becoming the 12th team in league history to go unbeaten and first since 2014. The Gators claimed the regular-season crown outright for the first time after sharing the title with Georgetown in 2015. Florida enters the BIG EAST Championship as the No. 1 seed for the second straight season, the third program in league history to earn the top seed in back-to-back seasons. The Gators led the BIG EAST in goals per game at over 14 per contest, while limiting league foes to just 5.71 goals per contest – the stingiest mark in the conference. Florida ranks No. 2 in both national polls and went 6-1 against top-20 teams during non-conference play, with its only setback on the year against the reigning national champions, Maryland, the consensus No. 1 team in Division I.
Guided by 10
th-year head coach Bonnie Rosen, Temple came the closest to ending the Gators’ unbeaten league mark, holding Florida to its lowest goals total in BIG EAST play (10). The Owls finished in a tie for third place in the BIG EAST standings, earning their first BIG EAST Championship berth in league history. Temple has its most wins overall (12) and in league play (4) since joining the BIG EAST in 2014. The Owls limited league foes to just 6.92 goals per game to rank second in the conference, while their scoring defense average overall of 6.53 ranks fifth among all Division I teams. Temple and Florida both earned BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year honors for the first time.
Graziano, Fitzgerald, Burgess, Nolan and Ronbeck were unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team selections, along with Kristen Bandos of Georgetown and Brenda McDermott of Temple. Bandos led the Hoyas with 26 goals this season, while listing second in points (32). In league play, McDermott posted the second-best assists per game average (1.50) and was No. 3 in points per clip (3.50).
Also garnering All-BIG EAST First Team honors were Nee and teammate Alexandra Crofts, Florida’s Taylor Bresnahan, Georgetown’s Corinne Etchison, Marquette’s Elizabeth Goslee and Allison Lane, Temple’s Morgan Glassford and Cincinnati’s Kyara Byner. Goslee, Lane and Byner all made program history with their first-team nods – the first for both Cincinnati and Marquette. Temple took home multiple first-team certificates for the first time.
Byner led the BIG EAST in caused turnovers per game (2.43) and listed fourth in ground balls (2.43) – the highest average by a field player. Bresnahan helped anchor that stingy Florida defense while adding the fifth-best draw controls average in the league (2.43). Etchison enters the postseason with 31 points, including a team-high 11 assists, while Glassford set the single-season Temple record in draw controls, owning the NCAA’s 20
th-best average at 4.19 per tilt. Goslee led the MU defense with 1.86 caused turnovers per game, while Lane led the BIG EAST with 3.43 DC per game, while listing fourth in goals and fifth in points. Crofts leads UConn with 23 draw controls while listing third on the team with 26 goals.
Due to a tie in voting, 16 players were named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team, with Temple leading the way with four honorees. Vanderbilt followed with three second-team recognitions, while UConn, Florida, Georgetown and Villanova posted two certificates apiece. Marquette also added a second-team honoree.
Florida led all teams with seven All-BIG EAST honorees, including a league-high five on the First Team. Temple collected six all-league certificates, while UConn boasted five, including three first-team selections. Georgetown followed with four, while Marquette and Vanderbilt posted three apiece. Villanova (two) and Cincinnati (one) rounded out the list.
BIG EAST Co-Attackers of the Year
Sammi Burgess, Florida, A
Grace Nolan, Connecticut, A
BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year
Nicole Graziano, Florida, M*
BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Caroline Fitzgerald, Florida, D
BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Shannon Nee, Connecticut, GK
BIG EAST Freshman of the Year
Lindsey Ronbeck, Florida, A
BIG EAST Co-Coaching Staffs of the Year
Florida
Temple
*unanimous selection
All-BIG EAST First Team
Kristen Bandos, Georgetown, M*
Taylor Bresnahan, Florida, D
Sammi Burgess, Florida, A*
Kyara Byner, Cincinnati, D
Alexandra Crofts, Connecticut, M
Corinne Etchison, Georgetown, A
Caroline Fitzgerald, Florida, D*
Morgan Glassford, Temple, M
Elizabeth Goslee, Marquette, D
Nicole Graziano, Florida, M*
Allison Lane, Marquette, M
Brenda McDermott, Temple, A*
Shannon Nee, Connecticut, GK
Grace Nolan, Connecticut, A*
Lindsey Ronbeck, Florida, A*
All-BIG EAST Second Team^
Kassandra Bowling, Georgetown, D
Kelly Chandler, Vanderbilt, A
Emma Dagres, Vanderbilt, M
Cassie Ekstrom, Connecticut, D
Katherine Finkelston, Connecticut, A
Jackie Froccaro, Villanova, A
Chelsey Henderson, Villanova, M
Summer Jaros, Temple, D
Jaqi Kakalecik, Temple, GK
Callahan Kent, Vanderbilt, GK
Lauren Lea, Florida, M
Shayna Pirreca, Florida, A
Rachel Schwaab, Temple, A
Julianna Shearer, Marquette, A
Nicole Tiernan, Temple, M
Francesca Whitehurst, Georgetown, M
^extra player added due to a tie in voting