Taylor, Braig Garner Top IWLCA Honors
6/13/2019 5:00:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland women's lacrosse senior's Megan Taylor and Julia Braig earned top IWLCA honors, as announced by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association on Thursday.
Taylor was named the overall National Player of the Year as well as the National Goaltender of the Year. Braig was tabbed the National Defender of the Year.
The duo helped Maryland to a 22-1 record and NCAA Championship title as well as a Big Ten Regular Season Championship, while anchoring a defense that held 16 of 23 opponents to under 10 goals. Both were IWLCA First Team All-Americans. As two of the Terps' senior captains, Taylor and Braig helped lead the team to an 87-4 overall record in their four years with two National Championships, seven Big Ten titles and an undefeated 45-0 home record.
The 2019 Tewaaraton Award recipient, Taylor was also named the Big Ten Goaltender of the Year for the fourth straight year. Taylor had an all-time great season for a goalie, notching 217 saves to only 177 goals allowed. The Glenelg, Md., native was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, the University of Maryland Student Athlete of the Year, All-Big Ten, and NCAA All-Tournament teams, and was selected as a Honda Award finalist this week. This is Taylor's second time being named the National Goaltender of the Year (2017) and is the first ever Terp to be named the IWLCA National Player of the Year, after the IWLCA introduced the award last year.
The 2019 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a Tewaaraton nominee, Braig led Maryland's defense this season, consistently defending the opponent's top player. She was an All-Big Ten, Big Ten and NCAA All-Tournament selection and led Maryland with 27 caused turnovers.
Braig is the fourth Terp in the past six years to win National Defender of the Year and the sixth Terp of all-time. Nadine Hadnagy won in 2017, Alice Mercer took home the honors in 2016 and Megan Douty was named the best defender in both 2014-15. In 2012, Iliana Sanza was named the defender of the year, while Karissa Taylor earned the accolades in 2010.
This is Maryland's third Goaltender of the Year honor with Taylor winning in 2017 and Brittany Dipper winning in 2011.
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