AU Lacrosse Brings Home Four PL Major Awards

April 24, 2008

WASHINGTON - The American University lacrosse team was honored for its successful conference season by earning four of five major awards given at the Patriot League banquet on Thursday at the DoubleTree Hotel in Bethesda. Eagles head coach Katie Woods was honored as Coach of the Year, while Jackie Lane repeated as Offensive Player of the Year. Brittany Finnegan was named Defensive Player of the Year and Kristine Vida took Goalkeeper of the Year honors. All three Eagles were named All-PL First Team honorees.

Woods, in her second season at American, led the Eagles to a 5-1 conference mark and the top-seed in the post-season tournament. American won the PL Regular Season Championship for the first time since 2003, the only time the Eagles advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Woods is now 8-3 in league play over her two seasons.

Jackie Lane becomes the first player in American lacrosse history to receive back-to-back Offensive Player of the Year awards. Lane leads the team in scoring with 36 goals and 17 assists. She leads all field players with 33 ground balls and also ranks first on the team in draw controls (25) and caused turnovers (23). Lane was named Offensive Player of the Week on March 12, and ranks eighth in the Patriot League in assists and points. Lane currently holds a 36-game point streak.

Finnegan earns her first POTY award after finishing fourth on the team in scoring, scoring 15 goals and adding an assist. She has tallied one game-winning goal and has 32 ground balls, 23 draw controls and 14 caused turnovers. Finnegan was twice named Defensive Player of the Week, most recently following American's 13-10 win over Colgate.

Vida was named to her second-consecutive All-League selection this season, and posted totals of 176 goals against, 11.66 goals against average, 174 saves and a save percentage of 0.497 this season. She was named PL Goalkeeper of the week a league-high four times this season.

American will host the semifinal and final rounds of the Patriot League Tournament Friday and Sunday. The Eagles will host Navy at Jacobs Field at 1 p.m. Friday to get things started. The championship game will be held Sunday at 1 p.m.