April 17, 2008
Washington, D.C. – Two members of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team – junior attack Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) and senior midfielder Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) – have been selected among 18 nominees for the 2008 Tewaaraton Trophy that is presented annually to the top male and female collegiate lacrosse players in the nation.
The award, the most coveted and prestigious award a varsity lacrosse player can receive is a symbol of excellence in college lacrosse. The list of 18 nominees will be cut to five finalists in May with the award to be presented on Thursday, May 29, 2008 in Washington, D.C.
Byers and McKinney become the third and fourth Notre Dame women’s lacrosse players nominated for the award as they join Crysti Foote `06, a 2006 nominee, and Meredith Simon `04, who was nominated during the 2004 season. Foote went on to be the first Irish player to become a finalist for the award.
Byers currently leads the Irish in goals and scoring with 56 goals and 67 points through the first 15 games of the season. She currently leads the BIG EAST in goals and is third in the nation with 3.79 goals-per-game. Her 67 points are 11th in the nation. Earlier this season, the junior became Notre Dame’s all-time goal-scoring leader as she past Foote’s record of 61. As of April 17, Byers has 168 career goals and 43 assists for 211 points to rank third on that all-time list. It took Foote 66 games to score 161 goals while it took Byers just 48 games to pass her. She is the only player in the 12-year history of the Irish women’s lacrosse program to score 50 goals in three consecutive seasons. Byers is just two goals off of her personal best of 58 goals that was set in her freshman year of 2006.
The high-scoring Byers is a two-time unanimous all-BIG EAST selection and is a two-time, second-team IWLCA All-American.
Senior Caitlin McKinney joins teammate Jillian Byers as one of two Notre Dame women’s lacrosse players to be nominated for the 2008 Tewaaraton Trophy.
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McKinney ranks second on the Irish in scoring through 15 games this season as she has 32 goals and 18 assists for 50 points from her spot in the midfield. The speedy McKinney is tied for fifth in the BIG EAST with 50 points and her 32 goals tie her for ninth in the league. Earlier this season, she became the second player in the program’s history to go over 200 points for her career and is second all-time in points with 146 goals and 73 assists for 219 career points. She also owns the longest point streak in Notre Dame history after going 51 consecutive games with at least one point from April 24, 2005 to April 9, 2008.
She is a two-time IWLCA All-American (second team in 2007, third in 2006) and has been selected all-BIG EAST all three seasons at Notre Dame, taking second team honors in 2005 and first team honors in 2006 and 2007.
Byers and McKinney are two of four BIG EAST players to be nominated for the Tewaaraton Trophy as they join Georgetown’s Ashby Kaestner and Syracuse’s Katie Rowan.
The 18 nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy:
Hilary Bowen, Northwestern Hilary Fratzke, TowsonJillian Byers, Notre Dame Ashby Kaestner, GeorgetownSasha Cielak, Vanderbilt Kelly Kasper, MarylandSarah Dalton, Boston University Holly McGarvie, PrincetonCarolyn Davis, Duke Caitlin McKinney, Notre DameDana Dobbie, Maryland Hannah Nielsen, NorthwesternAmber Falcone, North Carolina Mallory Poole, C.W. PostChristy Finch, Northwestern Katie Rowan, SyracuseMeredith Frank, Northwestern Laura Shane, Stanford