SPARKS, Md. – USA Lacrosse announced on Thursday that five players from the No. 12 Denver Pioneers women's lacrosse team earned All-American accolades from the national governing body. Graduate student defender Sam Thacker was named to the First Team, while graduate student attackers Julia Gilbert and Olivia Penoyer, grad student defender Trinity McPherson and senior defender Anna Palmisano were all named Honorable Mentions.
 
Overall, 118 players from 40 schools were named to the list that was chosen by USA Lacrosse Magazine staff with input from coaches and conferences from across the country.
 
Thacker recorded 21 ground balls, 19 caused turnovers and 14 draw controls in 11 games this season before getting hurt and missing the last seven game since April 6. She owns 184 caused turnovers in her career, the most in program history as she broke the previous mark held by Kate Henrich (179, 2010-2013) earlier in the year. She also presently owns the school record with 80 career games started.
 
Gilbert was named to the All-Big East First Team and repeated as the conference's Attacker of the Year after leading DU with 57 goals. She has also added 12 assists and is second on the squad with 69 points. Gilbert is on a 10-game goal streak and owns a 41-game point streak dating back to the start of last season. Pacing the Pioneers with 99 shots on goal, she also owns a .479 shooting percentage and 13 free-position goals. Her 86 career games are the most in DU history, and she is five goals away from tying the school's all-time mark of 202.
 
Penoyer was also named to the All-Big East Second Team and leads Denver with 78 points on 25 goals and 53 assists in her first season on the squad. The Big East Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player after totaling 15 points (2g/13a) in two games last weekend, Penoyer's 53 assists on the year are tied with Steph Coyne for second place on DU's single-season list. She recorded eight assists in the conference semifinal win on May 2 vs. Villanova, tied for the second-most in a single contest in the Pioneers' history book and one shy of the program record.
 
McPherson is the Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year, as she is first on the Denver with 39 ground balls and 36 caused turnovers and ranks second in draw controls with a career-high 77. Also a member of the All-Big East First Team, she has also added a goal and an assist as well.
 
Palmisano has continued to develop as a reliable defender on the Pioneers, as she ranks second on the squad with a career-high 33 caused turnovers and has added 22 ground balls and one draw control. The All-Big East Second-Team member forced a career-high five turnovers on Feb. 17 at Michigan and picked up a personal-best five loose balls on April 20 at Villanova. She has started 79-of-80 games for the Pioneers in her four-year career.
 
 
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