Senior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney has been named to the IWLCA West/Midwest all-region team for the fourth consecutive year.

Irish Have Five Named To IWLCA West/Midwest All-Regional Team

May 27, 2011

Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team has had five players selected to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) all-West/Midwest Region team for the 2011 season. Players selected to the all-Regional team are now eligible for selection to the IWLCA All-American teams that will be announced on Monday, May 30. The IWLCA will honor the national All-Americans at the IWLCA All-American Banquet on June 11, 2011 at the Crowne Plaza Valley Forge in King of Prussia, Pa.

The Irish had three players selected to the first team – midfielder Shaylyn Blaney (Sr., Stony Brook, N.Y.), defender Jackie Doherty (Sr., Ellicott City, Md.) and attack Maggie Tamasitis (Jr., Boyertown, Pa.) – while freshman attack Kaitlyn Brosco (Shoreham, N.Y.) and senior defender Lauren Fenlon (Dayton, Md.) were second team selections.

For Blaney, this marks the fourth consecutive year that the talented midfielder has been selected first team IWLCA all-West/Midwest region team during her Notre Dame career. She joins former Irish teammate Jillian Byers `09 as the only players in Notre Dame history to be selected first team all-region in each of their four years playing for the Irish. Doherty makes her second consecutive appearance as a first team selection while Tamasitis, Brosco and Fenlon each make their first appearances on the IWLCA all-region teams.

5024606.jpeg

Jackie Doherty was named to the IWLCA West/Midwest all-Region team for the second consecutive year.

spacer.gif

spacer.gif

A first team all-BIG EAST selection for 2011, Blaney served as a team captain and led Notre Dame in goals (35) during the season while adding a career-high 11 assists to finish second on the team in points with 46. She led the Irish in draw controls with 39 and was second in ground balls (44) and caused turnovers (39) with both those totals being career highs. A complete midfielder who plays the entire field, Blaney finished the season with a 14-game point streak that saw her score 30 goals with six assists for 36 points. During the season, she had 13 games with two or more points and 10 with two or more goals.

A preseason Tewaaraton Trophy candidate, Blaney is a four-time all-BIG EAST selection (three first team and one second team) and a two-time IWLCA second team All-American (2009, 2010). She finishes her Notre Dame career first in games played (77), second in goals (162), seventh in points (188), fifth in ground balls (135), first in draw controls (167) and second in caused turnovers (113).

Doherty, who served as a team captain along with Blaney, turned in the best season of her Notre Dame career in 2011 and was named first team all-BIG EAST, the Notre Dame Monogram Club’s team Most Valuable Player and the winner of Notre Dame’s 2002 Award as the team’s top defensive player. One of the nation’s best defensive players, Doherty was a four-time BIG EAST honor roll selection in 2011 and had career best in ground balls (56), draw controls (38) and caused turnovers (46), setting a Notre Dame single-season mark with the 46 caused turnovers. She finished the year ranked first in the BIG EAST in caused turnovers (2.42 per game) and ground balls (2.89 per game) and was third and 15th nationally in each category. She also helped the Irish record their third-lowest goals-against average (9.58) in the 15-year history of the program.

A two-time first team all-BIG EAST selection, Doherty was a first team IWLCA All-American in 2010. She finishes her Notre Dame career ranked first in caused turnovers (117), tied for second in ground balls (177), fifth in draw controls (115) and tied for fourth in games played (72). She also had 21 goals and 18 assists for 39 points in her career.

6486615.jpeg

Freshman Kaitlyn Brosco scored 32 goals in her rookie season for Notre Dame.

spacer.gif

spacer.gif

Tamasitis was a first team all-BIG EAST selection for the 2011 season after leading Notre Dame in scoring with 21 goals and 46 assists for 67 points, all career highs with the 46 assists being an Irish single-season record. The talented playmaker finished the year on a 37-game point streak (39g, 72a, 111 points) that started with the opening game of the 2010 season and is the second longest in school history. She had nine games on the season with three or more assists and tied a Notre Dame single-season record with six assists in a game versus Connecticut on April 16. In her first three seasons, Tamasitis has 54 goals with 92 assists for 146 career points. She is second all-time with 92 assists and ranks ninth all-time in points with 146.

Brosco got her Notre Dame career off to a fast start in 2011 breaking into the starting lineup after seven games and finishing second on the team in goals (32) and third in points with 40. Her 40-point freshman season was the fifth-best total by a Notre Dame freshman while the 32 goals were the fourth most by an Irish rookie. A second team all-BIG EAST selection in 2011, Brosco had 11 games with two or more goals and 13 with two or more points. Her best games came against nationally ranked teams as she had a five-point effort (4g, 1a) at Vanderbilt and a four-goal game against Georgetown. Those back-to-back games earned her WomensLax.com rookie of the week honors for the week of April 25.

5289091.jpeg

Senior defender Lauren Fenlon was named second team IWLCA West/Midwest all-Region for the 2011 season.

spacer.gif

spacer.gif

Fenlon was a three-year starter on defense for the Irish and teamed with Doherty to give Notre Dame strong, veteran leadership on the backline. Selected by her teammates as the team’s Unsung Hero in 2010 and 2011, Fenlon was one of the team’s top shutdown defenders and helped Notre Dame record its third-lowest goals-against average (9.58) in the 15-year history of the program. During the season, Fenlon had 14 ground balls, two draw controls and seven caused turnovers. For her career, she played in 66 games with 74 ground balls, 13 draw controls and 32 caused turnovers.

An outstanding student, Fenlon earned the women’s lacrosse team’s Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley’s Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award for 2011 after recording a 3.33 grade-point average as a sociology major. A two-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star, she also was named to the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll following the 2010 season.

Notre Dame finished the 2011 season with a 10-9 overall record and was 6-2 in the BIG EAST. The Irish advanced to the BIG EAST Tournament for the fifth consecutive year where they upset Georgetown in the semifinals before losing to Loyola in the title game, 12-10, on May 7.

IWLCA West/Midwest All-Regional Team
First TeamShaylyn Blaney, Sr., Notre Dame, M
Alex Breiner, Sr., Oregon, MDana Cahill, Jr., Penn State, GKAllyson Carey, Jr., Vanderbilt, MEmily Dashiell, Sr., Louisville, MJackie Doherty, Sr., Notre Dame, DPaige Farmakis, Jr., Stanford, DLeslie Foard, Sr., Stanford, MBergan Foley, Sr., Louisville, AAlex Frank, Jr., Northwestern, MColleen Magarity, Sr., Northwestern, DAlayna Markwordt, Jr., Ohio State, ALauren Schmidt, Sr., Stanford, MShannon Smith, Jr., Northwestern, AMaggie Tamasitis, Jr., Notre Dame, ATaylor Thornton, So., Northwestern, DBrittney Zerhusen, Sr., Ohio State, A
Second TeamKaitlyn Brosco, Fr., Notre Dame, ABrandi Byner, Fr., Vanderbilt, DGabby Capuzzi, Jr., Ohio State, MAllison Daley, Sr., Canisius, GKMaggie Dunbar, Sr., Penn State, MLauren Fenlon, Sr., Notre Dame, DErin Fitzgerald, So., Northwestern, MSarah Flynn, Sr., Stanford, ALindsey Gysin, Sr., Ohio State, DCourtney Kirk, Jr., Vanderbilt, AAlyssa Leonard, Fr., Northwestern, MLiz Lovejoy, Sr., Louisville, AMonica Negron, Fr., Louisville, DKaren Nesbitt, Sr., Stanford, MKatie Oliverio, Jr., Louisville, AJen Steadman, Sr., Penn State, ACatherine Swanson, Sr., Stanford, D