Three Golden Eagles Named All-Big East In Women's Lacrosse

On Wednesday, the Big East announced their end of year awards for women's lacrosse.  Three Marquette players earned all-conference honors, with sophomore midfielder Allison Lane and senior defender Elizabeth Goslee earning a spot on the First Team, while junior attacker Julianna Shearer made it onto the Second Team.

Lane and Goslee represent the first time that a Marquette player has made it to the Big East's First Team.  A Golden Eagle has been included on the Second Team six times in the first two years that MU has been a part of the conference.  That's just one more gold star to add to the 2016 campaign, the best ever in program history.

Goslee accounted for two of those six appearances on the Second Team each of the past two years.  Biz was her standard issue outstanding to wrap up her collegiate career, totaling 19 ground balls, 11 draw controls, and 24 caused turnovers.  She finishes her career as the only Golden Eagle to ever record 80 caused turnovers with 88 in her four years, and she holds the program record for ground balls by a field player with 106.  Only goalie Sarah Priem, with 157, has recorded more ground balls than Goslee, and no one else has made it to 100.

Lane turned the encouraging spark of her freshman year into a full blown fireball in her sophomore campaign.  She finished with a marker in every single game of the season, extending her goal scoring streak to 20 including the final three games of the 2015 season.  Her 39 points are the seventh best performance in program history, and Lane deserves credit for breaking the MU records for goals and draw controls in a season even if she didn't end up as the team leader in either category by the end of the year.

The woman that beat Lane out for both of those records is Shearer, who set new program bests with 36 goals and 46 draw controls.  Shearer, who is now Marquette's active leader in goals and shots, isn't just an offensive threat.  Standing just 5'3" and limited to the attacking side of the field, Shearer finished tied for third on the team in caused turnovers and led all field players in ground balls.

That brings us around to the individual honors handed out by the Big East, and we're going to have to talk about those.  First, let's list them out.

BIG EAST Co-Attackers of the Year
Sammi Burgess, Florida, A
Grace Nolan, Connecticut, A

BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year
Nicole Graziano, Florida, M

BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Caroline Fitzgerald, Florida, D

BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Shannon Nee, Connecticut, GK

BIG EAST Freshman of the Year
Lindsey Ronbeck, Florida, A

BIG EAST Co-Coaching Staffs of the Year
Florida
Temple

Ok, let's get the easy stuff out of the way.  Graziano was a unanimous choice for best middie because that's what being the best scoring midfielder at top five in goals and points gets you.  Ronbeck was the obvious choice to me for ROY after winning the weekly award twice as many times as anyone else and finishing top 10 in points and assists.  I picked Meredith Black to win Coach of the Year, but I can't really fault anyone who voted for Florida's Amanda O'Leary and her staff.  The Temple votes are kind of weird, considering that the Owls needed a huge win over Georgetown in the final game of the season just to finish in a tie for third, but whatever.  There's no real obvious guidelines on how to vote for that.

Same thing goes with Defensive Player of the Year. I went with Florida's Taylor Bresnahan; the coaches voted for Fitzgerald.  They're the ones who have to scout the Gators, I just guessed based on stats.

I can't really fault the voting for Nee, even if I don't like it.  In our predictions post, I said I could see the coaches voting for her because she has the best save percentage and made way more saves than my pick, Temple's Jaqi Kakalecik.  In short, Temple's defense was helping Kakalecik out more that Connecticut's was helping Nee, so Nee is the better goaltender.  I give credit for goalies organizing defense in front of them, but we're just nitpicking at this point.

The real problem comes in that Attack of the Year vote.  When I made my picks, I went with Nolan, but pointed out that Katherine Finkelston, her teammate and the best goal scorer in the Big East this season, could edge her out if the coaches went purely with goal scoring.  Nolan won the points race, and while there's no rule that Attacker OTY has to be the points leader like with the NHL's Art Ross Trophy, it's usually the safest bet.

I have ZERO idea why multiple coaches voted for Burgess.  Connecticut head coach Katie Woods and I are cool.  By rule, she had to vote for someone who wasn't either Nolan or Finkelston since they're on her team.  If she wants to vote for Burgess, I can't knock her for it.  The other six coaches that aren't Florida's Amanda O'Leary?  Y'all need to make it clear who you voted for, because none of you should have been voting for Burgess.  When the awards were announced, Burgess was tied for the sixth most points per game in the Big East and sixth in total points.  SIXTH.  Four women, all not named Sammi Burgess, averaged at least three points per game.

Burgess wasn't even the best offensive player on her own team!  Graziano had more points, goals, and assists than Burgess.  Yes, Graziano is a midfielder, and thus not eligible for Attacker of the Year.  But how can you be the best attacker in the Big East when you're not even the best scorer on your own team?

In short: C'mon, man. What are we doing out there, man?

We'll wrap up with the full listing of the all-conference teams.

All-BIG EAST First Team
Kristen Bandos, Georgetown, M
Taylor Bresnahan, Florida, D
Sammi Burgess, Florida, A
Kyara Byner, Cincinnati, D
Alexandra Crofts, Connecticut, M
Corinne Etchison, Georgetown, A
Caroline Fitzgerald, Florida, D
Morgan Glassford, Temple, M
Elizabeth Goslee, Marquette, D
Nicole Graziano, Florida, M*
Allison Lane, Marquette, M
Brenda McDermott, Temple, A
Shannon Nee, Connecticut, GK
Grace Nolan, Connecticut, A
Lindsey Ronbeck, Florida, A

All-BIG EAST Second Team
Kassandra Bowling, Georgetown, D
Kelly Chandler, Vanderbilt, A
Emma Dagres, Vanderbilt, M
Cassie Ekstrom, Connecticut, D
Katherine Finkelston, Connecticut, A
Jackie Froccaro, Villanova, A
Chelsey Henderson, Villanova, M
Summer Jaros, Temple, D
Jaqi Kakalecik, Temple, GK
Callahan Kent, Vanderbilt, GK
Lauren Lea, Florida, M
Shayna Pirreca, Florida, A
Rachel Schwaab, Temple, A
Julianna Shearer, Marquette, A
Nicole Tiernan, Temple, M
Francesca Whitehurst, Georgetown, M