Four Blue Devils Collect Division I IWLCA/US Lacrosse All-America Honors

May 24, 2005

Juniors Katie Chrest and Megan Huether along with senior Caline McHenry were recently named IWLCA/US Lacrosse first team All-Americas. In addition to the three first team selections redshirt freshman Rachel Sanford garnered second team All-America honors.

The foursome led Duke to a banner year, setting school records for wins (17), winning percentage (.810), margin of victory (+5.97), goals (286), goals per game (13.6), shots (676), shooting percentage (.423), assists (119), points (405) and ground balls (542). The Blue Devils finished the year 17-4 overall, winning their first ACC Championship and reaching the NCAA Tournament Final Four for the second time in the program's 10-year existence.

Chrest, the ACC Player of the Year and ACC Tournament MVP, finished the year as the conference leader in goals (70, 3.33 gpg), points (96, 4.57 ppg) and shots (162, 7.71 spg). 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 in 2005. Chrest powered the Duke attack into first in the conference and third in the NCAA in scoring offense, fueling a 13.61 goals per game average and 286-164 scoring advantage versus all opponents.

Huether was among the conference and national leaders in goals against average (7.62), save percentage (.560) and saves per game (9.33). She played all 60 minutes in 14 games, while allowing fewer than 10 goals in 16 of 21 contests and recording 10-plus saves on 11 occasions, including eight of the final 10 games of the season.

Along with Huether, McHenry and Sanford anchored a Blue Devil defense that limited opponents to a 7.81 goals per game average, a mark that put the Duke scoring defense first in the ACC and fifth in the NCAA. The duo combined for over 25 percent of the team's caused turnovers with 39 apiece and a share of the conference lead. McHenry held three of the conference's leading scorers to two or fewer goals in the regular season contests before holding 2004 Tewaaraton Trophy winner Amy Appelt scoreless in the ACC Championship game. Sanford proved to be a threat on offense as well, finishing third on the team in scoring with 41 goals and tied for third in points with 50. The Greenwich, Conn., native also led the Blue Devils with 60 draw controls in 2005.

Chrest, a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist, and McHenry were also recently named first team All-America by Inside Lacrosse, while Sanford was a third team selection by the organization.