Women's lacrosse player Lauren Holleran '95 was named the Ivy League Player of the Year late last week, completing a four-year career that featured postseason honors each year.
Princeton's Cristi Samaras was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
Holleran is no stranger to Ivy League recognition as she received Rookie of the Year honors after her freshman year in 1992.
Along with several other Dartmouth players, Holleran can add yet another notch of achievement to her post. For the third time, Holleran has earned herself a place on the All-Ivy first team.
Defenseman Jenny Edwards '95 joins Holleran on the first team this year. Both Holleran and Edwards were two of six players chosen unanimously by the Ivy League.
Attack Devens and Wallis Cook '95 as well as defenseman and co-Captain Mya Mangawang '95 were chosen for the All-Ivy second team.
Attack Kim Mendelson '97, defenseman Maura Schneider '96, and goalie Kirsten Prettyman '95 received honorable mention.
" I think Lauren getting Player of the Year was well deserved," Coach Amy Patton said. "She has had a tremendous four years, each and every year. It's not just her play but her leadership on and off the field. It's definitely a payoff for her."
Holleran, co-captain of this year's team, led the league in scoring, both overall and within league games. She tallied 70 points, including 50 goals and 20 assists, statistics that place her above previous Dartmouth season record-holders Anne Moellering '89 and Sarah Devens '96 for season points and assists, respectively.
Her point total far surpassed other Ivy-Leaguers as no one else in the League scored more than 53 points this season. Princeton's Abigail Gutstein and Amory Rowe, Harvard's Sarah Winters and Yale's Laura Karmatz were among the scoring leaders.
"I'm glad that Bear [Holleran] got Player of the Year. She definitely deserved it," teammate Sarah Devens '96 said.
"I was glad to see a lot of our players get recognized, but I was very disappointed some of our players didn't receive higher recognition," Patton said.
For example, Patton mentioned Prettyman. "In my eyes, in the team's eyes, we all feel she has had a tremendous year. She has kept us in games. She has big saves in big games. She is also a tremendous leader of the defense. She talks to the defense really well. It's like having another coach on the field."
Another disappointment in Patton's eyes was for Devens. "Most of the Ivy League coaches would want her if they were picking a team. They tend to put their top defender or defenders on her."
That Princeton has five players on the first team was another source of grievance for Patton.
"It's hard, especially since we won the Ivy League. [Princeton is] a talented team but we're a talented team, too. I just feel that some of our players were deserving of the first team."
In other lacrosse news, Princeton, seeded third, took down Temple, seeded sixth, 14-8, in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.
Princeton's victory advances it to the semifinals next Saturday at Trenton State in New Jersey. The Tigers will face second-seeded Dartmouth in the semifinals.
Dartmouth, along with top-seeded Maryland, received a bye into the semifinals and did not have to play in the first round of the tournament.
Maryland will take on Penn State, which defeated James Madison 11-7 on Saturday.
Dartmouth played in a scrimmage yesterday against a New England team made up of top New England players both in and out of college. Patton hopes that the scrimmage helped prepare the team for next week's competition.
"We took it to them," Patton said. "Sarah Devens was totally on fire. The team's timing was really on. They're fired up. We beat them pretty handily."
And is the team excited to play Princeton, whom Dartmouth beat 10-9 in the regular season?
"Definitely," Devens said.
