Five Blue Devils Named All-South Region

DURHAM, N.C. ? Five members of the Duke women's lacrosse team picked up honors by the IWLCA/US Lacrosse as All-South Region selections for their play in 2009. Seniors Caroline Cryer and Carolyn Davis and sophomore Sarah Bullard received first team honors, while juniors Lindsay Gilbride and Danielle Kachulis were named to the second team.

In all, 128 student-athletes were chosen for the four regional teams. Within the south region, 20 of the 30 selections on both the first and second teams were members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, with Duke making up five of those spots.

Davis saw her senior year cut short after she suffered a torn ACL in Duke's NCAA first round game vs. Virginia, but still finished the year tied for the team lead in goals with 59, and adding 15 assists for 74 total points. A Tewaaraton Trophy finalist, Davis scored six goals on two occasions during the 2009 season. This marks the third All-South Region honor for the New York native, all of them coming on the first team.

Cryer finished the 2009 season leading the squad in both points (83) and assists (38), and scored 45 goals on the year. She added 50 draw controls, 17 ground balls, and 12 caused turnovers for a Duke team that participated in its 12th straight NCAA Championships. This is the second first team All-South honor for Cryer, who also received the nod in 2007 when she was a Tewaaraton finalist and broke the Duke single-season goals record.

Bullard, who will join Cryer on the World Cup team this summer in Prague and rounds out the Blue Devils' first team honorees, netted 39 goals and added seven assists for 46 points this season, and led all field players in ground balls with 31 while causing 20 turnovers. She scored one of her three game-winning goals with just 11 seconds left in Duke's 13-12 victory over Virginia March 28. This is the first All-South region for the Massachusetts native.

That trio were also Tewaaraton nominees this season and were honored by WomensLacrosse.com as All-Americas and named to the All-ACC squad.

Gilbride, named to the second team, is coming off her selection as a WomensLax.com All-America earlier this week. Picking up her first regional honor, the Alexandria, Va., native finished second on the team in points with 76 in 2009, coming via 59 goals and 17 assists. Her 59 goals tied for the team lead with Davis. She netted at least three goals on 13 occasions during the year, her highest total of six coming against Vanderbilt as she finished with eight points on the day. She tallied 11 total points in the team's NCAA Tournament run, and collected 11 goals and four assists for 15 points in ACC play in 2009.

Kachulis also earned the first All-Region honor of her career after starting all 21 games in the midfield, netting 6 goals and adding an assist for seven points. Also one of the team's toughest defenders, the junior picked up 16 ground balls, won 11 draws, and caused 10 turnovers. Two of Kachulis' goals came in the Blue Devils' NCAA Tournament second round contest vs. Penn.

The group helped the Blue Devils to a 15-6 overall record and a trip to the NCAA second round, going 3-2 in conference play and advancing to the finals of the ACC Championships for the fifth time in school history.

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