June 6, 2007

EVANSTON, Ill. -- A record eight Wildcats received All-America honors from Inside Lacrosse and womenslacrosse.com -- five of whom were named to the first-team. In addition, three received specialty awards, the selection committees announced on Wednesday.

Both the five first-team selections and the eight overall are the most in the history of the All-America selections.

Senior Kristen Kjellman, a first-team honoree for the third-straight year, won the Midfielder of the Year award for the third year in a row. Junior Christy Finch was named Defender of the Year while sophomore Morgan Lathrop was named Goalie of the Year.

Also taking home first-team honors were sophomores Hannah Nielsen and Meredith Frank. Senior Lindsay Finocchiaro was named to the second-team while senior Annie Elliott (named to the IL All-America team only) and sophomore Hilary Bowen took home third-team honors.

Kjellman, Finch, Frank and Nielsen also were named first-team by the IWLCA last week while Finocchiaro and Lathrop to the second and third-teams, respectively.

Kjellman is the first four-time All-American in the school's history. Now a two-time winner of the Tewaaraton Trophy as the nation's top player, she led the Wildcats with 66 goals and was the only player in the country with at least 60 goals and 80 draw controls in 2007. She was named the American Lacrosse Conference's (ALC) Player of the Year for the third-straight season and set the all-time record with 39 goals in NCAA Championship play. Kjellman owns the Northwestern all-time record for goals (250) and points (349) and set an NCAA all-time record with 268 draw controls and a career 3.29 draw controls per game average. Further, she recently was awarded the Honda Sports Award (lacrosse) for the third-straight season and is once again a finalist for the Honda-Broderick Cup, which will be awarded at Columbia University in New York on June 25.

Nielsen, MVP of the ALC Tournament, ranked second in the nation with 3.1 assists and fourth with 5.4 points per game. She led the Wildcats with 119 points -- a school record -- recording 50 goals and an NCAA record 69 assists. She also joined Kjellman as one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy and was a first team All-ALC selection. Nielsen tied the school's single-game record with seven assists in back-to-back games and dished out 23 over a four-game span late in the season.

Finch, another first-team all-conference choice, wrecked havoc for opposing teams all season with her ability to strip the ball. She ranked second in the NCAA with 2.7 caused turnovers per game and was 30th with 2.4 ground balls. She was part of a defensive unit that ranked first in the NCAA in fewest goals allowed. She had her best game of the season when she caused six turnovers and scooped up nine GB's in the win over Rutgers.

Frank, who scored in all but one game this year, was one of NU's quickest and most dangerous weapons on attack. She tied for second on the team with 61 goals (fifth on NU's single-season list) to go along with 19 assists and 80 points. She scored 20 goals in NU's six postseason games, including 10 in two ALC Tournament wins over Penn State and Johns Hopkins.

Lathrop, started all 22 games in goal, leading the nation with a 5.92 goals-against-average and a .576 save percentage. She was named the ALC Goalie of the Year and recorded 160 saves -- a school record. She had her best game of the season when she came up with 14 saves -- one shy of her career high -- in the win over No. 2 Maryland in Evanston. Against Penn in the NCAA semifinals, she notched seven saves and held the Quakers scoreless until the 16:29 mark of the second half -- the longest scoring drought (43:31) to open a game in NCAA finals history. She allowed just two teams to score in double-figures all season.

In only her sophomore season, Bowen flew under the radar in 2007 and had one of the best statistical seasons ever by a Wildcat. She tied for second on the team with 61 assists, 36 assists and 97 total points--all of which rank among the top five on the Northwestern single-season annals. Bowen capped off 2007 in style, earning NCAA Championship MVP honors as she recorded five goals in the championship game win over Virginia. Bowen had a total of 19 goals in six postseason games.

Elliott teamed with Finocchiaro and Finch to form the stingiest backline in the country this year. Finocchiaro started all 22 games this year with 19 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers while Elliott also started every game, recording 38 GB's and 15 CT's. They helped anchor a backline that ranks No. 1 nationally in scoring defense. The Wildcats held 20 of their 22 opponents to single-digits.

Inside Lacrosse All-America Teams:

First Team
Kate Breslin, A, Sr., Virginia
Sasha Cielak, D, Jr., Vanderbilt
Becky Clipp, D, Sr., Maryland
Jenn Cook, D, Sr., North Carolina
Caroline Cryer, A, Jr., Duke
Dana Dobbie, M, Jr., Maryland
Christy Finch, D, Jr., Northwestern
Meredith Frank, M, So., Northwestern
Mary Key, A, Sr., Johns Hopkins
Kristen Kjellman, M, Sr., Northwestern
Morgan Lathrop, GK, So., Northwestern
Katie Lewis-Lamonica, M, Jr., Princeton
Hannah Nielsen, A, So., Northwestern
Hilary Renna, D, So., Penn
Coco Stanwick, A, Sr., Georgetown
Lauren Taylor, M, Jr., Yale

Second Team
Shannon Burke, M, Sr., Connecticut
Jessica Champion, D, Jr., Yale
Margie Curran, A, Jr., Vanderbilt
Whitney Douthett, M, Sr., Dartmouth
Amber Falcone, D, So., North Carolina
Lindsay Finocchiaro, D, Sr., Northwestern
Hillary Fratzke, M, So., Towson
Mandy Friend, M, So., Richmond
Kelly Kasper, M, Jr., Maryland
Norris Novak, D, Jr., Princeton
Krista Pellizzi, A, Sr., Maryland
Katie Rowan, A, So., Syracuse
Kristen Waagbo, A, Sr., Duke
Jess Wasilewski, M, Sr., Virginia
Sarah Waxman, GK, Jr., Penn
Blair Weymouth, A, So., Virginia

Third Team
Katie Batiuk, M, Sr., Rutgers
Kelly Berger, M, Sr., James Madison
Hilary Bowen, A, So., Northwestern
Jillian Byers, A, So., Notre Dame
Laura Cipro, D, Sr., Georgetown
Annie Elliott, D, Sr., Northwestern
Kimberly Hillier, A, Sr., Hofstra
Leigh Jester, A, Sr., Duke
Kristie Leggio, M, Sr., Denver
Caitlin McKinney, A, Jr., Notre Dame
Kathleen Miller, A, Sr., Princeton
Jessy Morgan, D, Jr., Virginia
Norris Novak, D, Jr., Princeton
Ashley Pike, M, Sr., Syracuse
Kristen Stone, D, So., Loyola
Jackie Swansburg, GK, Sr., Richmond
Annie Wagner, M, Jr., James Madison

Attacker of the Year: Mary Key, Johns Hopkins
Midfielder of the Year: Kristen Kjellman, Northwestern
Defender of the Year: Christy Finch, Northwestern
Goalie of the Year: Morgan Lathrop, Northwestern
Rookie of the Year: Brittany Kalkstein, Virginia
Coach of the Year: Karin Brower, Penn