amyejohn's blog

National and Regional Awards

At the 2007 WDIA National Championship tournament in Denver, Colorado, our team was honored with a slew of awards. Not only did we have five first and second team All Americans, but Michigan had the most Academic All Americans of any other club lacrosse team in the nation.

Mary Ann Meltzer (Head Coach) - Coach of the Year
Becca Miller (Sophomore) - Defensive Player of the Year
Amy Johnson (Freshman) - Rookie of the Year

First Team All Americans:
Becca Miller, Sophomore, Defense
Marie Wolbert, Senior, Defense

Second Team All Americans:
Noelle Frasier, Senior, Attack
Alexis Pavle, Sophomore, Midfeild
Amy Johnson, Freshman, Midfeild

Academic All Americans:
Julie Baskind
Micaela Batisste
Taylor Griglak
Amy Johnson
Rachel Lary
Becca Miller
Alexis Pavle
Maggie Preketes
Natalie Relich
Amy Santoriello
Sarah Smith
Jennifer Sprague
Marie Wolbert

The WDIA website with the complete list of awards from the 2007 season can be found at:
http://www.uslacrosse.org/wdia/awards.phtml

Rivalries

Our biggest rivals are the Michigan State and CalPoly women's lacrosse teams.

During the 2007 season, we beat Michigan State during the regular season by a score of 12-7 but we lost to them at the regional tournament in Toldeo, Ohio by a score of 9-6. Luckily, our team received an at-large bid to the national tournament in Colorado because we were ranked 5th in the nation regardless of losing at Regionals. At Nationals, we got to face off against Michigan State again and beat them decidedly by a score of 18-8.

We suffered a heartbreaking 9-8 loss to CalPoly in San Luis Obispo, California, during the regular season. We fell to the Mustangs in the last minute of the game due to a turnover which led to the game-winning goal. We didn't play CalPoly at Nationals but can't wait to play them again this spring.

The complete results of our 2006-2007 season can be found on our webpage:
http://www.umich.edu/~womenlax/results.html

The CalPoly Mustangs

The Michigan State Spartans

Men's and Women's Divisions

The main Women's conference for D-I programs in the midwest is the American Lacrosse Conference (ACL), which consists of three teams from the midwest: the Northwestern Wildcats, the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Penn State Nittany Lions. The conference also includes the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays and the Vanderbilt Commodores. Beginning in 2010, the conference will expand to include Division I teams from both South Carolina (the Fighting Gamecocks) and Florida (the Gators).

The ACL website can be found at:
http://home.frognet.net/~alc/alc.htm

The main Men's conference for D-I programs in the midwest is the Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL), which consists of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Denver Pioneers, the Air Force Falcons, the Bellarmine Knights, and the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

The GWLL website can be found at:
http://gwlladmin.googlepages.com/CONFSTAT.HTM

Michigan Lacrosse Showcase

On Friday, October 12th 2007 the Michigan Men's Lacrosse team hosted Division I Lacrosse teams from Johns Hopkins University and Army. This "showcase" was an important event in the history of the Michigan Men's lacrosse program because our team had the to ability to play against some of the nation's most talented players (Johns Hopkins won the Division I National tournament in Baltimore, MD last May). Also, the event was great for lacrosse fans and younger players in the Midwest because they were able to see three entertaining scrimmages full of highly competitive lacrosse.

Photos from this event can be found on the Michigan Men's Lacrosse website:
http://www.umich.edu/~menslax/Articles/07_08Articles/101307ShowcaseGallery.htm

Also, a write-up about the success of the Michigan Showcase is provided on the team's website:
http://www.umich.edu/~menslax/Articles/07_08Articles/101307Showcase.htm

Lacrosse in the Midwest

I love lacrosse. I've been playing the sport since I was ten years old and have been unable to put my stick down ever since. Although lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the U.S., there are still few Division I programs in the Midwest. However, the programs present in the Midwest have experienced vast growth and success over the past few years. As a member of the Michigan Women's Lacrosse team, I hope that our men's and women's programs will go D-I and thereby raise the level of competition in this part of the country. Listed below are the strongest men's and women's lacrosse programs in the midwest presently (Colorado teams included):

Women's Teams:
- Northwestern
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- The University of Denver

The Northwestern Women's Lacrosse team after winning their third straight NCAA Division I Championship in 2007

Men's Teams:
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- The University of Denver
- The Air Force Academy

The Notre Dame Men's Lacrosse team