UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., May 7, 2003 - Six Penn State women's lacrosse players picked up All-American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) honors after finishing second in the league with a 5-1 record. Senior Colleen O'Hara (Ardmore, Pa.) recorded first team honors while juniors Stephanie Curnoles (Baltimore, Md.) and Katie Jeschke (Ellicott City, Md.), sophomore Lee Tortorelli (Havertown, Pa.) and freshmen Liz Frand¨¦ (Ellicott City, Md.) and Shari Maslin (New City, N.Y.) all picked up second team accolades.
The selections bring Penn State's number of all-time ALC honors to eight, as O'Hara and Ali DeCecco received recognition last season in the first year of the conference.
O'Hara led the Nittany Lions in points with 57 off 34 goals and 23 assists. It marks the third consecutive year O'Hara has led the team in scoring after she posted 59 points last season and 52 during her sophomore season in 2001. A first team IWLCA All-Mid Atlantic selection last year, O'Hara started every game of the season, recording 18 ground balls and eight draws.
Curnoles started all 17 games this season for the Nittany Lions, recording 10 points on six goals and four assists. She ranked second on the team in ground balls with 40 and draw controls with 27 and was both Academic All-Big Ten and Academic All-ALC last season.
Jeschke finished the season ranked fourth in scoring with 25 goals and seven assists for 32 points. She was named second team All-Mid Atlantic and Academic All-Big Ten a year ago and was tabbed as the ALC Player of the Week on March 4 of this season after scoring four goals on five shots to lift the Nittany Lions over Vanderbilt. The junior is one of 21 nominees for the 2003 Tewaaraton Award, the most prestigious and coveted award a varsity lacrosse player can receive as a symbol of excellence in college lacrosse.
Tortorelli played all 1,020:00 minutes this season in goal, recording 199 saves and allowing 165 goals for a 9.71 goals against average and a save percentage of .547. With her 199 saves, Tortorelli broke her own record for saves in a season, which was previously 189 set last season. She led the team in ground balls with 48 and also recorded eight caused turnovers.
In her first season as a Nittany Lion, Frand¨¦ started every game for the Penn State defense. She was named National Rookie of the Week by womenslacrosse.com on March 4 for her play against Vanderbilt and was also named as an honorable mention Player of the Week by insidelacrosse.com that same week. For the season she recorded 19 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers while picking up two draw controls.
Maslin finished her first season at Penn State tied for second in scoring with 34 points on 28 goals and six assists. She started all 17 games of the season, ranking third on the squad in ground balls with 34. She also ranked second in draw controls with 27 and added nine caused turnovers throughout the season.
The Penn State women's lacrosse team finished its season with a 9-8 record and ranked 13th in the country by the IWLCA. For statistics and more news on the Nittany Lions, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com. For more information on the American Lacrosse Conference, please visit http://theuscaa.com/alc/alc.htm .
