Two Dartmouth women's lacrosse players earned the Ivy League Player of the Week award on Monday after last week's strong performances.
The nation's ninth-ranked Big Green (9-1) have won eight straight games, including last week's victories over BU, 11-6, Penn, 18-7, and Penn State, 14-5.
Goalie Sarah Hughes '02 won the defensive player of the week after starting all three games last week. She made a total of 44 saves on the week.
"Achieving recognition is always nice," Hughes said.
Hughes leads the league in overall save percentage (.708) and goals against average (6.11). The sophomore also tops these categories in the Ivy games with a .720 save percentage and a 4.67 GAA.
"However, I would have to attribute this award more to the staff, my teammates and our other goalie -- Ellie Leahy '01 -- more so then to myself," the Broomall, Pa. native said.
"I think it doesn't just reflect my play individually, because I wouldn't be making the saves if my attack and defense weren't working hard to make me better in practice.
"Ellie has been my backbone out there ... helping me keep my head in games because my emotions tend to get the best of me sometimes.
"This award also directly reflects the dedication the staff has shown to my development and growth on and off the field ... and I feel much of the credit goes there," she added.
Defenseman Kate Graw '00, on the other hand, received the offensive player of the week award, as she scored 13 goals and six assists on the week.
The senior has always led the Big Green early in the games and sets the tone. Against BU, Graw scored and assisted on four of Dartmouth's first five goals. In the game against the Quakers, she notched three of Dartmouth's first five tallies. Finally, against Penn State, the defenseman recorded two goals and two assists in the first half.
She is second behind her teammate Jacque Weitzel '00 in both overall and Ivy scoring. She has accumulated 29 goals and 19 assists over the ten Big Green games played so far. She also has 15 goals and 10 assists in Ivy games.
Also for the Green, senior midfielder Weitzel obtained Honor Roll with an 11-goal, two-assist performance in the three games.
The Annapolis, Md. native has scored 50 points (43g, 7a) for the year. She also has 23 goals and three assists against conference opponents.
Dartmouth heads to Cambridge this afternoon to fight Harvard for a 4 p.m. game. The Big Green squad is undefeated in the Ivy League with a 5-0 record and they will face a critical match against Princeton on Saturday.
The Tigers are also undefeated in the Ivies (4-0) and are ranked second in the nation.
