GRAND LAKE, Colo. (May 18, 2016) - The Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association announced its 2016 list of All-Americans for Division II on Wednesday, and LIU Post had six of its players selected.
Four of the Pioneers were named to the IWLCA All-America First Team, which paced all recognized programs. They were senior attacker
Emily Delaney (Long Valley, N.J.), senior defender
Brittany Smith (Dix Hills, N.Y.), senior defender/midfielder
Honey Roche (Centerport, N.Y.) and sophomore goaltender
Olivia Kirk (Farmingdale, N.Y.).
Delaney, the 2016 East Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year, led the league this season in points (99) and assists (54) and placed in the Top-10 in Division II in both statistical categories. She was also named to the All-ECC and IWLCA All-North Region First Team, in addition to being placed on the watch list for the Tewaaraton Award.
Smith and Roche anchored a defense that led the conference and ranked second in the nation in fewest goals allowed per game (4.33). Smith, the 2016 ECC Defensive Player of the Year, gathered 22 ground balls and forced 18 turnovers in 21 games, while Roche compiled Top-10 totals in the ECC in ground balls (38), caused turnovers (26) and draw controls (68).
Furthermore, Roche scored 25 goals and added 14 assists for 39 points. She tied her career-high last Friday (May 13) with a five-goal showing in a 9-6 win against University of New Haven in the first round of the NCAA Division II Championship.
Kirk, who earned ECC Goalkeeper of the Year honors, compiled a league-leading 17-3 record this year, to go along with a 4.50 goals-against average and a Division II-best .580 save percentage. Her 87 goals allowed were the lowest amongst conference goalies.
Junior defender/midfielder
Cara Douglas (West Islip, N.Y.) and junior attacker
Connor Bird (Syosset, N.Y.) were chosen to the IWLCA All-America Second and Third Team, respectively.
Douglas forced the most turnovers in the ECC in 2016 with 46. Her average of 2.1 caused turnovers per game ranks 15th in the country. Additionally, Douglas tallied nine goals on 15 shots on cage.
Bird was the league's sixth-leading scorer this year, tallying 41 goals and 19 assists for 60 points, en route to repeating as an IWLCA All-America third-team selection. She racked up the seventh-most draw controls (59) in the ECC, as well.
For a complete release on the 2016 IWLCA Division II All-America Team, please click
here.