Chrest Tabbed Tewaaraton Trophy Finalist; Four Blue Devils Earn All-South Team Honors

May 20, 2005

Duke junior attacker Katie Chrest has been named one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy, an honor awarded to the top collegiate lacrosse player in the nation, as announced Thursday night by the Tewaaraton Award Foundation at an event in New York. Additionally, Chrest, along with Megan Huether, Caline McHenry and Rachel Sanford, were selected to the All-South Team for their play during the 2005 season. Members of the three all-regional teams (North, Mid-Atlantic and South) are eligible for IWLCA/US Lacrosse All-America honors, to be released Sunday, May 22, in conjunction with the 2005 NCAA Championship game at the United States Naval Academy.

Heading into tonight's NCAA semifinal game against Virginia, Chrest leads the team and ACC in goals (67, 3.35gpg), points (91, 4.55ppg) and shots (157, 7.85 spg). As a junior in 2005, the Hampstead, Md., product broke the school records for goals, points and shots in a season and career shots, while moving up to second all-time in season assists. Chrest has powered the Duke attack into first in the conference and third in the NCAA in scoring offense, fueling a 13.65 goals per game average and 273-149 scoring advantage versus all opponents.

For the regional honorees, Huether leads the conference in goals against average (7.33), save percentage (.576) and saves per game (9.45). She has played all 60 minutes in 13 games this season, while allowing fewer than 10 goals in 16 of 20 contests and recording 10-plus saves on 11 occasions, including eight of the last nine games.

Along with Huether, McHenry and Sanford anchor the Blue Devil defense that has limited opponents to a 7.45 goals per game average, a mark that puts the Duke scoring defense tops in the ACC and fifth in the NCAA coming into the weekend's final four competition. The duo has combined for over 25 percent of the team's caused turnovers with 39 apiece and a share of the conference lead.

McHenry, who is placed on the opposing team's strongest attacker, held three of the conference's leading scorers to two or fewer goals in the regular season contests before holding Virginia's Amy Appelt scoreless in the ACC Championship game. Equally strong on the offensive end, Sanford is third on the team in scoring this season with 39 goals and fourth in points with 46.

The remaining four Tewaaraton Trophy finalists are Amy Appelt (Virginia), Katieanne Christian (Dartmouth), Kristen Kjellman (Northwestern) and Lindsey Biles (Princeton). Chrest and the other finalists for the prestigious award will be invited to Washington, D.C., on June 1st and June 2nd. There they will be honored at an awards ceremony at the National Geographic Museum, and be treated to tours and sightseeing around the Nation's capital. The Trophy winners will be announced in Washington DC on June 2nd.

The Blue Devils take on Virginia tonight at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the NCAA Semifinal at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The winner advances to the national championship game Sunday at 3:30 p.m. against the winner of the Northwestern-Dartmouth contest to be contested at 6:00 p.m. Friday.

IWLCA/US Lacrosse All-South Team:
Amy Appelt, Sr., A, Virginia
Chloe Asselin, So., D, Georgetown
Allison Chambers, Sr., M, Georgetown
Katie Chrest, Jr., A, Duke
Jenn Cook, So., D, North Carolina
Lacey-Leigh Hentz, Sr., D, Johns Hopkins
Megan Huether, Jr., GK, Duke
Mary Key, So., A, Johns Hopkins
Tyler Leachman, Jr., A, Virginia
Nikki Lieb, Jr., M, Virginia
Kate McHarg, So., M, Loyola
Caline McHenry, Sr., D, Duke
Rachel Sanford, Fr.-R, M, Duke
Greta Sommers, Sr., D, Maryland
Coco Stanwick, So., A, Georgetown
Acacia Walker, Sr., M, Maryland