June 5, 2005

EVANSTON, Ill. - The NCAA champion Northwestern women's lacrosse team concluded a lucrative postseason by taking home three awards at the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-America Banquet Saturday night in Baltimore. At the banquet, the IWLCA announced the 12 positional players of the year awards (four in each division) as well as three Scholar-Athlete Awards and the Community Awareness Award.

Senior Courtney Koester was named the Division I recipient of the IWLCA Scholar Athlete Award, and was also named the Defender of the Year. Koester was a semifinalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy, and also earned first-team All-America honors along with teammates Kristen Kjellman and Lindsey Munday. Koester finished the season with 73 draw controls, putting her among the national leaders, and also had 44 ground balls and 29 caused turnovers. She and her twin sister Ashley Koester anchored a Wildcat defense that led the nation in goals-against average.

Sophomore Kristen Kjellman was named the magazine's National Offensive Midfielder of the Year. Kjellman -- the winner of the Honda Award in lacrosse and one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy -- finished the season with 59 goals and 32 assists for 91 points, good for second on the team and third nationally. The first-team All-America punctuated her season with five goals in NU's NCAA final victory over Virginia.

Jenny Mongeau (Assumption) and Ashley Harmeling (Amherst) joined Koester as the Scholar Athlete Award winners in Division II and Division III, respectively, while Caroline Edsall (Yale) was the IWLCA recipient of the Community Awareness Award. The player of the year honors are listed below.

Division I
C. Markland Kelly Goalie of the Year: Megan Huether, Duke
Defender: Courtney Koester, Northwestern
Midfielder: Kristen Kjellman, Northwestern
Attacker: Katie Chrest, Duke

Division II
C. Markland Kelly Goalie of the Year: Lauren Stone, Stonehill
Defender: Lindsay Goldman, C. W. Post
Midfielder: Erin Acone, Stonehill
Attacker: Katherine Hock, Adelphi

Division III
C. Markland Kelly Goalie of the Year: Kendall Cox, Bowdoin
Defender: Kate Murphy, Gettysburg
Midfielder: Lauren Dougher, The College of New Jersey
Attacker: Cassie Abel, Colorado College