Boston University swept each of the four major awards handed out by America East at the women's lacrosse banquet Wednesday night. Sophomore midfielder Alyssa Trudel was named America East Player of the Year. Junior defender Sasha Lang was chosen the Defensive Player of the Year. Attacker Mary Beth Miller was selected Rookie of the Year. Liza Shoemaker was the choice as Coach of the Year. All of the voting was conducted by the conference's head coaches.
All-Conference Teams
Trudel has scored 37 goals and added 35 assists for 72 points to lead America East in both scoring and assists. She ranks third in the nation in both categories. Trudel is four points shy of the Terrier single-season record for points and earlier this season broke the school mark for assists in a season. In less than two full seasons, she already ranks seventh on the career scoring list with 125 points.
Lang anchors a defense which has allowed 6.31 goals per game, to lead America East and rank third nationally.
Miller is second on the Terriers and fourth in America East in scoring with 38 goals and 15 assists for 53 points. She ranks third in the conference in goals and fourth in assists.
Shoemaker, a two-time America East Player of the Year as a midfielder at Delaware, joins Maine softball coach Deb Smith as the only former America East Players of the Year to also win Coach of the Year honors in any of the conference's 21 sports. Shoemaker has guided the Terriers to a 12-4 overall mark and the No. 1 seed in the America East Championship. Boston University is currently ranked No. 20 in the most recent Brine/WILCA poll. She is 20-15 in her two seasons at Boston University.
Trudel is joined on the all-conference first team at midfield by junior Sarah Cahill and senior Jessie Groszkowski of University of New Hampshire, and rookie Danielle Werner of Stony Brook University. Groszkowski, a three-time all-conference choice and the 2002 America East Player of the Year, has scored 47 goals and added seven assists for 54 points this season. She ranks 10th nationally in scoring and also ranks sixth in draw controls with 3.4 per game. Werner has scored 33 goals and added 15 assists for 48 points. She leads America East and ranks second in the nation in caused turnovers (3.19) and fifth nationally in draw controls (3.69). Cahill has 17 goals and three assists for 20 points.
Miller is joined on the first team at attack by senior Maria Ferrucci of University at Albany, sophomore Jess Burnap of New Hampshire and sophomore Vanessa Cox of University of Vermont. Ferrucci leads the Great Danes in scoring with 34 goals and six assists for 40 points. Burnap, the 2002 America East Rookie of the Year, has scored 22 goals and added 11 assists for 33 points. Cox, who leads America East and ranks ninth nationally in goals, has scored 42 goals and added six assists for 48 points.
Lang leads the first-team defenders. She is joined by senior Theresa Masse of Albany, and sophomore Renee Nemmers and junior Jen Smith of New Hampshire. Both Masse and Smith earned second-team honors last year.
The first-team goalkeeper is sophomore Anne Sheridan of Boston University, who leads America East and ranks seventh nationally in both goals against average (7.04) and save percentage (.570).
Junior attacker Caroline Kelleher and senior defender Meghan Murphy of Boston University were chosen as first-team at-large choices. Kelleher scored 19 goals and added 10 assists despite missing four games with a knee injury.
The second-team attackers are senior Andrea Esposito of Albany, rookie Lindsay Lewis of Boston University, junior Kelly Blaney of New Hampshire and rookie Marrisa Trachtenberg of Stony Brook. Second-team midfielders include rookies Lauren Wetherell of Binghamton University and Danica Strutt of Boston University, and juniors Sarah Booker and Molly Sheehan of Vermont. Rookies Kaitlyn Cuneo of Boston University, Mel Bourque of New Hampshire, and Dana Spencer of Vermont, and junior Beth Arikian of Stony Brook are the second-team defenders. Senior Danielle Martin of New Hampshire is the second-team goalkeeper.
The all-rookie team consists of Wetherell, Cuneo, Lewis, Miller, Bourque, Trachtenberg, Werner, Spencer, Blakely Agnone of Albany, Kristin Blanchette and Katie Leland of New Hampshire, Jill Gridley of Stony Brook, and Erin Hall of Vermont.
Fourteen of the 15 first team all-conference selections and 11 of the 13 second-team choices will be in action this week at the America East Women's Lacrosse Championship. No. 1 Boston University plays No. 4 Stony Brook at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 1 with No. 2 New Hampshire and No. 3 Vermont to follow. The championship game is scheduled for 12 noon Saturday. All games will be played at Nickerson Field on the Boston University campus.