June 18, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame women’s lacrosse senior Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.) has been selected by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association (IWLCA) as the winner of the IWLCA Community Awareness Award. The award was announced in conjunction with the IWLCA/US Lacrosse All-American Banquet held on June 16 in Valley Forge, Pa.
Murphy has been involved in community service work at Notre Dame throughout her four years with the Irish women’s lacrosse team. In 2006-07 she served as the vice-president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), overseeing all the community service work done by Notre Dame student-athletes. As a junior (`05-’06), she received the University’s Christopher Zorich Award for her extraordinary community service contributions to Notre Dame and the local community.
As a senior this past May, Murphy received the most distinguished honor bestowed upon a Notre Dame student-athlete, the Byron V. Kanaley Award. This award is given to senior athletes who have been most exemplary throughout their careers as students and athletes. She is just one of three Irish student-athletes to win both the Zorich and Kanaley Awards during her career.
Among the many community service projects she was involved this year included helping coordinate a five-day fall break trip for 14 student-athletes and five administrators from Notre Dame along with the School of Urban Mission, a Christian service and academic institution, to help clean, gut and refurbish homes in the upper and lower ninth wards devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
She has also contributed to the following projects this season with SAAC and the women’s lacrosse team:
• The SAAC shoebox donation for the South Bend Center for the Homeless. Murphy spearheaded critical needs supply drive for the Center; project has been adopted as an annual service project for Notre Dame student-athletes. The shoeboxes are given to new residents of the Center for the storage of their personal belongings. Each shoe box contains the necessary toiletries and personal items for women upon entering the shelter.
• Volunteer/Research Intern at the AIDS Ministries/AIDS Assist in South Bend.
• Adopt-A-Family, Salvation Army – The women’s lacrosse adopted a family for the year; bought the family Christmas gifts and Christmas dinner; the kids came to team practices; one daughter sang national anthem at a game; team attended their basketball games.
• Athletic Department Christmas Pediatric Party.
• South Bend Reads Program Partner Up! – Participated in a weekly reading program at Perley Elementary School mentoring kids in local schools with reading difficulties.
• South Bend Center for the Homeless – Serving Saturday brunch and weekday meals; monitoring children’s Thanksgiving Day activities and assisting with child care.
• Fighting Irish Fight for Life – Team up with child with cancer and make them a part of an athletic team.
• Notre Dame Paint Fest – Painted ceiling tiles for the new pediatric wing at Saint Joseph Hospital.
• Other activities throughout the year: YWCA spring cleaning, Breakfast at the Bank, Food Bank of Northern Indiana, Volunteer at the South Bend Animal Shelter.
• Dr. Seuss Day – Read Dr. Seuss books to kids at Wilson Primary School.
• Eucharistic Minister, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame, Indiana.
Murphy has also excelled in the classroom during her career. She graduated with a 3.771 grade-point average with a double major in anthropology and pre-professional studies.
In 2006, she received the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award for the women’s lacrosse team and was a third team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American on the at-large squad. She was also selected to the IWLCA Academic All-Star team for the 2006 season. A three-time member of the Dean’s List, Murphy closed her career with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average for the spring of 2007.
On the field, Murphy closed her Notre Dame career with her best season ever, recording career highs in goals (18), assists (17) and points (35) to finish fourth on the team in scoring while starting 15 of the team’s 17 games. For her four seasons at Notre Dame, Murphy played in 54 games with 49 goals and 30 assists for 79 points. She was a member of two NCAA teams during her career and the program’s first final four team in 2006.
Murphy is the winner of a BIG EAST postgraduate scholarship and a candidate for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. She will attend medical school in the fall at Georgetown University.