DENVER - The University of Denver women's lacrosse team headlined All-Big East Awards, bringing in three of the major awards and placing nine on all-conference teams.
Following its fifth consecutive undefeated season in Big East play and regular season championship, graduate student
Trinity McPherson was voted Big East Defensive player of the year while graduate student
Julia Gilbert was named Attacker of the Year and
Liza Kelly and the Denver coaching staff were named Big East Coaching Staff of the Year.
McPherson is the fifth consecutive Pioneer to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors, joining Sam Thacker (2023, 2022), Molly Little (2021) and Katherine Fischer (2019). The graduate defender finished the regular season ranked top five in the BIG EAST in caused turnovers per game (1.94, second), ground balls per game (2.06, fourth), and draw controls per game (3.94, fifth). She also led a defensive unit that ranked ninth in the nation with just 8.38 opponent goals allowed per game, including holding three ranked opponents to single-digit scoring outputs.
Gilbert becomes the second Pioneer to garner back-to-back BIG EAST Attacker of the Year honors, joining Bea Behrins who won it in both 2022 and 2021. This is also the fifth consecutive year a Denver player has been awarded Attacker of the Year honors (Gilbert: 2023, Behrins: 2022, 2021; Quintin Hoch-Bullen: 2019). The graduate attacker led Denver with 48 goals during the regular season, the third-most in the BIG EAST. She also totaled 59 points, good for fifth in the conference, while averaging 5.31 shots on goal per game, the second-best mark in the league. Additionally, during conference play Gilbert ranked second in the BIG EAST with 3.40 goals per game.
McPherson and Gilbert join five Pioneers also named to the All-Big East First team, Lauren Black, Caroline Colimore, Abby Jenkins, Anna Palmisano and Olivia Penoyer., while Bryn McCaughey and Emelia Bohi earned second-team nods.
After earning Freshman of the Year honors in 2021, Black leads the conference with four game-winning goals this season in her junior season, including a buzzer-beater to defeat [8] Yale. She has recorded goals against five nationally ranked opponents this season.
Colimore is a two-way midfielder, making an impact on the offensive and defensive end and is an essential part of the clear for the Pioneers. She has recorded goals against five nationally ranked opponents this season. On the defensive side she has recorded nine caused turnovers and 13 ground balls this season.
Senior draw specialist Abby Jenkins is fourth in the conference, averaging 4.33 draws per game, but the Pioneers are third in the Big East due to her efforts off the draw. She leads the Pioneers with 70 draw control wins and the team holds a 214-183 draw advantage over opponents because of her skill in the circle.
Palmisano has started in every game this season and the senior defender ranks third in the conference, averaging 1.87 caused turnovers per game.
Fifth-year attacker Olivia Penoyer leads the conference averaging 2.60 assists per game and is second with 4.13 points per game in a far more difficult schedule than the conference point leader. She has recorded an assist on nearly one-third of the Pioneer's goals this season. The fifth-year has recorded two five assist games this season, the only player in the conference to do so. She ranks fifth on the NCAA Active Career Leaderboard with 146 career assists, the most of any player in the Big East.
McCaughey has started in every game this season and is third on the Pioneers squad with 22 caused turnovers and second with 32 ground balls. She ranks eighth all-time for the Pioneers with 92 career caused turnovers.
Bohi, the junior goalkeeper leads the conference with 8.24 goals against average, which is seventh nationally, while playing the most difficult schedule in the Big East. Bohi held four nationally ranked opponents below their average goals per game, including making six saves against Stony Brook, holding them to single digit goals for the only time this season and made a season-high 10 saves against nationally ranked Stanford.
Up Next:
Denver travels to Cincinnati, Ohio this week for the Big East Tournament. The Pioneers will face the Villanova Wildcats in the semifinal round of the tournament on Thursday at 11 a.m. MT in pursuit of their fourth straight Big East title.
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Women's Lacrosse on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_WLAX on Twitter
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_WLAX on Instagram
