PSAC Athlete of the Year Tori Dugan of West Chester (left) and Freshman of the Year Julie Falk of Bloomsburg (right).
2012 All-PSAC Lacrosse Teams (pdf)
Lock Haven, Pa. – West Chester junior attacker Tori Dugan has been named the PSAC Athlete of the Year as she, along with PSAC Freshman of the Year Julie Falk of PSAC Tournament champion Bloomsburg highlight the 2012 All-PSAC lacrosse teams. Bloomsburg first-year head coach Erin Cunnane has been selected the PSAC Coach of the Year, becoming the second straight rookie head coach to be tabbed the Coach of the Year in the PSAC.
Gannon led the way with seven overall selections, including junior midfielder Jessica Fugate and sophomore goalkeeper Margaret Maslyn on the first team. Golden Knights on the second team include attacker Rachel DerCola and defender Miranda Walters, while three Gannon players found their way onto the third team: attacker Kimberly Neagle, midfielder Sarah Grzybinski and defender Lauren Hunt.
PSAC Tournament champion Bloomsburg was next with six total selections, led by a pair of midfielders in the Freshman of the Year, Falk and senior Samantha King on the first team. King is one of three seniors, all on the first team, to end her career as a four-time all-conference honoree. King was twice a second team selection and now twice a first team pick. Sophomore defender Aubrey Bossert, who last week was honored as the recipient of the PSAC Champion Scholar Award as the individual with the highest grade point average at the lacrosse championship, is on the second team while attacker Sam Mazzie, defender Carly Ball and goalkeeper Sara Bates are all on the third team.
Lock Haven and West Chester, which combined with Gannon for a three-way tie for the regular season league championship, each had five selections each. The Lady Eagles were the only team with three first team selections as a trio of seniors – one at each field position – each made the cut. Kayleigh Johnson, a former PSAC West Freshman of the Year, earns her fourth straight All-PSAC honor, including three first team selections and one second team honor. Elyse Fisher is on the first team at midfield while Clare Gaeng is a first team defender.
Slippery Rock senior attacker Amy Halls is the other four-time All-PSAC selection in addition to Johnson and King. Halls is on the first team for the third time in her career and also has a second team honor on her resume. In addition to the trio of four-time selections in Halls, Johnson and King, only three other individuals are making at least their third appearance on the all-conference team. DerCola makes her third appearance while Mercyhurst’s Alexandra Keirn joins DerCola as a second team attacker after previously having been on the first team twice. Shippensburg junior midfielder Lindsey Kennedy is a second team midfielder after previously having been on the second and third teams once each in her first two seasons.
Of the 13 individuals that comprise the first team, nine previously were on an all-conference team. Only Falk and sophomores Maslyn and Paige Beierschmitt of IUP are first time honorees on the first team. Five of the 13 individuals on the second team are making their first appearance on an all-conference team while the third team is made up of nine first-time honorees and just four repeat recipients.
Dugan is the first athlete from West Chester to be garnered with the Athlete of the Year honor since Courtney Whiting in 2009. Prior to 2010, the Golden Rams had six straight Athletes of the Year from 2004-09. Dugan becomes the ninth different individual from West Chester to capture Athlete of the Year honors. In addition to leading her team to a share of the regular season championship and the PSAC and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, Dugan ranks fourth in the PSAC and 14th in the country in total points with 81. She is also sixth in assists with 35 and fifth in assists per game 2.06. Her 46 goals also rank in a tie for ninth in the conference and she leads the PSAC and ranks fourth in the country in draw controls per game at 6.94.
Falk becomes the third Bloomsburg freshman to be named the Freshman of the Year in the last four seasons. Her teammates King and Mazzie were the PSAC East Freshmen of the Year in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Falk is the sixth all-time Husky to garner Freshman of the Year honors. She has enjoyed a tremendous rookie campaign as she leads the PSAC and ranks sixth in the nation in total points with 95 as well as second in the PSAC and 14th in the country in total goals with 58 and is also fifth in the league in goals per game at 3.05. She was also named the PSAC Tournament MVP after helping the Huskies win the championship last weekend.
Cunnane is not only the second straight first-year head coach to be honored as the PSAC Coach of the Year, following East Stroudsburg’s Jane Koeniges last year, but she is also the fourth different Bloomsburg coach to win the conference Coach of the Year award. Her predecessor, Leah Carr, was twice honored as the PSAC East Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2010 and Kathy Frick (2003, 1999) and Sharon O’Keefe (1998) are the others. Cunnane guided the Huskies to their first PSAC championship since 2003, becoming the first No. 6 seed to win the championship in conference history. In fact, Bloomsburg became the lowest seed to ever win a conference championship in any PSAC sport with their victory in Lock Haven last weekend. The Huskies defeated the No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds to capture the title.