2017 Great Midwest Women's Lacrosse All-Conference Team (PDF)
INDIANAPOLIS – A total of 21 student-athletes from three different institutions were officially named to the Great Midwest Women’s Lacrosse All-Conference Team for the 2017 season on Thursday.
The second annual G-MAC Championship got underway last night in Philippi, W.Va., and second-seeded Alderson Broaddus won the tourney’s lone semifinal contest. The Battlers will face No. 1 seed Ursuline in a rematch for the conference title on Saturday in Pepper Pike, Ohio.
The league’s coaches voted for offensive, defensive and freshman, individual honors as well as a top coach among their peers.
Institutionally, Ursuline led all schools with 11 total selections (10 student-athletes) while Davis & Elkins had six honorees and Alderson Broaddus had five. The Arrows earned a share either outright or partial of all individual awards.
Repeating as the G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year for consecutive seasons was Ursuline’s junior scoring machine Cydney Bartlett. The skilled attacker easily led the league in total points (73) and goals scored (57).
In just two seasons, Bartlett is currently tops in conference history in points with 139, goals with 104 and assists with 35. The Arrows put up goals in bunches as a group as three players had 30 or more goals this spring.
Earning G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year was sophomore Emma Barnes, who emerged as the ringleader of a stingy defensive unit that helped retain the conference regular-season title and top-seed billing for the postseason.
Barnes scored one goal, collected 20 ground balls and caused 11 opponent turnovers. She was also the league’s defensive player of the week choice for the first time in her career.
Sharing G-MAC Co-Freshman of the Year was another Ursuline Arrrow and a Davis & Elkins first-year Senator, Natalie Nowicki and Lydia Eichhorst. Nowicki was the only player in the conference to receive both offensive and defensive player of the week honors, a testament to her versatility on the field.
Nowicki racked up 45 points in her rookie season with 32 goals and 13 assists. Eichhorst played four games as the primary keeper and made 26 saves. She also filled out the stat sheet with 15 ground balls, five draw controls and eight caused turnovers in 10 games played.
Also repeating as G-MAC Coach of the Year was Ursuline’s Ed Karasek. Karasek led the Arrows to an 8-7 regular-season mark and are the presumed favorites heading into Saturday’s final with home-field advantage.
The Arrows and Battlers did split their regular-season contests with AB upending Ursuline in Pepper Pike in their last meeting.
2016 G-MAC Freshman of the Year Hayley Mazreku of Ursuline also made the first-team all-conference list with teammate Maddy Kipp. Five-time offensive player of the week Jasmine Barham of AB added more firepower to the group while D&E’s Gabby Fagan led her team with 16 points.