University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Capture Four Big East Regular Season Awards
4/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
NEW YORK -- The UConn women's lacrosse team scored a handful of major Big East Regular-Season Awards on Wednesday, taking home four Player of the Year accolades.
Husky freshman attacker Grace Nolan (Marcellus, N.Y.) was tabbed the conference's Rookie of the Year, while Connecticut was recognized as the Coaching Staff of the Year. Two UConn defensive standouts were also recognized, as defender Lauren Kwasnowski (Kingston, N.Y.) received Defender of the Year honors, and junior Shannon Nee (Lancaster, Pa.) was named the Goalkeeper of the Year.
Nee and Kwasnowski both landed on the All-Big East First Team along with junior attacker Katherine Finkelston (Leonardtown, Md.) and senior midfielder Emily Anderson (Killingworth, Conn.), and Nolan joined junior attacker Carly Palmucci (Herndon, Va.) on the Second Team.
Nolan posted a fantastic rookie campaign for UConn, finishing with the most points (44) among Big East freshmen. Her 20 assists in 2015 ranked first on Connecticut, and she tallied the third-most goals (24) on the team. The Marcellus, N.Y. native recorded at least three points in 10 matches this season, and she tallied a career-high six points against Marquette earlier this month.
Kwasnowski earned the nod as the league's Defender of the Year after anchoring a Connecticut defense that finished first in the Big East in caused turnovers (10.94) and ground balls (19.81) per game. Her 2.06 caused turnovers per match ranked second in the league and ninth among Division I players, and she was one of four UConn players to finish the regular season with at least 15 draw controls.
Nee, who has earned League Defensive Player of the Week honors six times throughout her collegiate career, boasted the top save percentage (0.487) among all conference goalkeepers. She ranked second in the league in saves (128) and saves per game (8.00), and her goals against average (8.90) was the 27th-best in Division I. She made at least 10 saves in four games this season, and she recorded a career-high 15 stops in UConn's win over Fairfield.
Wednesday's announcement marked the second Coaching Staff of the Year award in the last three seasons for the Huskies. Woods, the 2013 Big East Coach of the Year, led UConn to a 10-6 overall record during the regular season. The Huskies won nine of their final 12 matches of the regular season on their way to their third straight berth in the Big East Tournament. Woods' .627 winning percentage at UConn stands as the best in program history.
Finkelston landed on the All-Big East First Team after leading the Huskies in points (52) and goals (36) during the regular season. The attacker, who earned All-Big East Second Team honors last year as a sophomore, has led the Huskies in goals in each of the last two years, and she tallied a season-high five scores in Connecticut's regular season finale over Villanova last weekend.
Anderson broke through in her final season in Storrs, tallying career highs in goals (26), assists (2) and points (28). Her 26 goals were the second-most among Connecticut players, and she was named the Big East Midfielder of the Week twice in 2015.
UConn's four First Team selections marked the second-most among league members. Florida, which earned a share of the Big East Regular Season Tittle with Georgetown, led the way with five players on the All-League First Team.
Palmucci received her first All-Conference selection following another productive season on the offensive end. She finished the regular season third in points (36) and assists (14) among UConn players, and her 22 goals in 2015 were good for the fourth-highest mark on Connecticut.
All of the UConn award winners will be on display on Thursday when the third-seeded Huskies face No. 2 seed Georgetown in the semifinals of the 2015 Big East Tournament. The action gets underway at 7 p.m. at the George J. Sherman-Family Sports Complex on the Connecticut campus.
