Seven Terps Earn IWLCA All-America Honors
6/12/2019 5:00:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Seven members of the 2019 National Champion Maryland women's lacrosse team earned IWLCA All-America honors Wednesday, the most players of any school across the three lists.
The Terps seven All-Americans are the most in program history.
A trio of seniors: Julia Braig, Jen Giles and Megan Taylor were named First Team All-Americans. Junior Kali Hartshorn earned second team honors while graduate student Erica Evans, senior Caroline Steele and junior Lizzie Colson were named Third Team All-Americans.
All seven Terps earned IWLCA All-Region honors in May and were also All-Big Ten selections. They all played a crucial part in leading Maryland to their 15th National Championship, 11th-straight Final Four, 5th-straight Big Ten Regular Season Championship and both an undefeated regular season and home slate in 2019.
The Big Ten Defender of the Year for the second year in a row, Braig was the leader of Maryland's Big Ten best defense, only allowing 8.09 goals per game. Always defending the opponent's top player, Braig topped her team with 27 caused turnovers and tallied 30 ground balls as well. Braig was selected to the Big Ten All-Tournament and NCAA All-Tournament teams, as well as being a Tewaaraton nominee. This is the second year in a row that Braig is a First Team All-American.
The Big Ten Midfielder of the Year and Tewaaraton Finalist, Giles led Maryland with 82 points (59 goals, 23 assists), while standing second on the team with 37 groundballs. The senior had at least three goals in 10 different games, led the team in assists in 10 different games and in points in eight different games. This is the second year in a row that Giles was named a First Team All-American.
The 2019 Tewaaraton winner, given to the best player in lacrosse, Taylor had one of the most sensational seasons by a goalie in the history of lacrosse in her senior season. Named the Big Ten Goaltender of the Year for the fourth year in a row, Taylor finished the season with a .551 save percentage (217 saves, 177 goals allowed), the best mark of any power-five goalkeeper in the country. Taylor was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player after posting 24 saves to only 23 goals allowed in the Final Four. This is Taylor's third All-American selection and second First Team honor.
Maryland's draw specialist, Hartshorn tallied a team-best 137 draw controls in her junior season, the fourth most ever in a single season by a Terp. Hartshorn scored 48 goals and assisted on 19 to stand fifth on the team with 67 points. Always coming up clutch in the big moments, Hartshorn had the game winning goal in overtime against No. 4 Syracuse and the game tying goal to put the game into overtime against No. 3 North Carolina. This is Hartshorn's first All-American selection.
The Terrapins 2019 goals leader, Evans scored 59 goals in her one year as a Terp, including 10 games with over three goals this season and nine games with over four points. The transfer from Canisius finished the year extremely strong, scoring 32 goals in Maryland's final 10 games of the season. Selected to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team and named the US Lacrosse National Player of the Week on May 15, this is the third All-American honor for Evans.
One of the best offensive players to ever play for Maryland, Steele scored 53 goals in just 19 games for Maryland in her senior season. The senior scored at least three goals in nine of the 19 games she played in including a seven goal performance in the NCAA Quarterfinals against Denver. Steele also scored the game-winning goal in one of the best women's lacrosse games this season, when Maryland beat #3 North Carolina 12-11 in overtime. This is Steele's second All-American selection.
A force all over the field, Colson led Maryland with 45 groundballs and stood second with 25 caused turnovers and 127 draw controls, the sixth most ever in a single season by a Maryland player. Colson had 11 games with at least two caused turnovers and eight games with at least seven draw controls, including hitting both of those marks in the National Championship game against Boston College. This is the second-straight year Colson has been named a Third Team All-American.
The Terps have had 179 All-Americans in program history.
In total, the IWLCA honored 48 student-athletes from around the country with All-America honors. Their are 16 honorees in each of the first, second and third teams. The IWLCA will announce the 2019 National Player's of the Year (Overall, Attacker, Midfielder, Defender, Goalkeeper) tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m.
