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CONNOR NAMED AMERICA EAST WOMEN’S LACROSSE COACH OF THE YEAR; SEVEN RETRIEVERS EARN ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
5/4/2006
 Head coach Courtney Connor led the Retrievers to their first-ever America East regular season title in her first season at the helm. |
Baltimore,
Senior midfielder Kelly Fiorani (
In her first season at the helm, Connor led the Retrievers to their first-ever America East regular season championship with a 5-1 conference record and 10-7 overall mark. It is the UMBC’s first winning season since 2003, when the Retrievers went 10-9 on the year, won the Northeast Conference and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Connor came to UMBC after an outstanding playing career at
Fiorani entered the 2006 campaign as one of the top women’s lacrosse players ever to wear the black and gold and earned first-team all-conference honors after putting together a career year, scoring 51 points on 38 goals and 13 assists, all career highs. She ranks second in points and goals and third in helpers. She is also tied for the team lead with 45 ground balls and 37 draw controls, and she is tops with 25 caused turnovers. Fiorani has scored at least one goal in all 17 of the Retrievers’ games this season with 10 multi-goal performances. The co-captain has tallied a hat trick or more in seven different games, including a career-high five goals against Virginia Tech in the second game of the season. The 2003 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year ranks third all-time at UMBC with 139 career goals and is tied for third with 187 points. She is also seventh all-time with 48 assists in four years. Fiorani also earned America East second-team honors in 2004.
Libertini has anchored the Retrievers’ defense for the last four years, as she has started all but four games since her freshman season. She earned first-team honors in 2006 – the first all-conference recognition of her career – with 36 ground balls and 19 caused turnovers, surpassing her three-year output in both categories. In addition, after scoring just three points on a goal and two assists in her first three seasons, Libertini doubled that total with two goals and a helper this year.
After earning all-rookie team honors as a freshman in 2005, Levendusky was named to the all-conference first team this year with a team- and career-best 40 goals and 52 points, ranking eighth in the America East with 2.35 goals per game and 10th with 3.06 points per contest. She has scored 25 goals and 32 points in her last seven games, and she leads the team with 19 goals and 25 points in UMBC’s six conference games this season. Levendusky is the first Retriever to score 40 or more goals since Jamie Gerhart (40) in 2002. In addition, she and Fiorani are the first UMBC teammates to reach the 50-point plateau since Gerhart (60) and Jen Dragoni (53), also in 2002.
A second-team honoree, Fahey has come on strong of late, tallying a career-best six points on a career-high five goals and an assist to lead the Retrievers to an 18-7 victory at
Kasper has made a successful return from a knee injury that kept her out most of last season to earn second-team honors, the first all-conference recognition of her career. The team co-captain has posted career bests in all three scoring categories with 25 goals, 15 assists and 40 points, and she ranks second on the team in helpers and fourth in both goals and points. In addition, her 40 points nearly equal her career output of 44 over 37 games, and her 15 goals surpass the 11 she scored in two-plus seasons.
Dorr earns all-rookie team accolades with one of the best freshman seasons by a Retriever in recent years. Her 24 goals are fifth-best on the team and most by a UMBC rookie since Fiorani scored 37 in 2003. In addition, Dorr’s 28 points rank sixth on the 2006 squad and are most by a Retriever freshman since Fahey scored 32 in 2004. Dorr is also tied for the team lead with 45 ground balls and 37 draw controls, and she has scored three game-winning goals this season.
Sweeney earns the nod as the all-rookie goalkeeper after posting a 10.31 goals-against average and a .488 save percentage. Her 143 saves rank third in the conference. Sweeney tallied a career-high 17 saves against 11th-ranked William and Mary in March, and she earned America East Defender of the Week twice this season.
The top-seeded Retrievers host the America East Women’s Lacrosse Championships this weekend and take on fourth-seeded
2006
All-Conference First Team
Jenny Hauser, Attack,
Mary Beth Miller, Attack,
Ali Levendusky, Attack, UMBC
Katie Leland, Attack,
Kate Fontana, Midfield,
Lindsay Lewis, Midfield,
Kelly Fiorani, Midfield, UMBC
Kristin Blanchette, Midfield,
Kaitlin Leggio, Midfield, Stony Brook
Danielle Werner, Midfield, Stony Brook
Katelyn Primomo, Defense,
Danica Strutt, Defense,
Julie Libertini, Defense, UMBC
Christine Carbone, Defense,
Jen Daly, Goalie,
All-Conference Second Team
Sarah Spillett, Attack,
Jen Kasper, Attack, UMBC
Moira Talbot, Attack,
Amy Taylor, Attack, Stony Brook
Lauren Wetherell, Midfield,
Kelly Fahey, Midfield, UMBC
Sarah Von Bargen, Midfield,
Kristen Miller, Midfield,
Molly Collins, Defense,
Keely
Bailley Mazur, Defense,
Jenna Spenard, Defense, Stony Brook
Jenna Goldon, Goalie,
All-Rookie Team
Julie Bush, Midfield,
Sarah Dalton, Attack,
Kara Dorr, Midfield, UMBC
Susie Sweeney, Goalie, UMBC
Sarah Von Bargen, Midfield,
Ashley Durepo, Midfield,
Kaitlin Leggio, Midfield, Stony Brook
Jenna Spenard, Defense, Stony Brook
Kristen Millar, Midfield,
Jennifer Maher, Attack,
Player of the Year
Jenny Hauser,
Coach of the Year
Courtney Martinez Connor, UMBC
Rookie of the Year
Kaitlin Leggio, Stony Brook