Acone One Of Six Individuals To Earn IWLCA All-America Accolades For National Champion Women's Lacrosse And Is Finalist For Prestigious Division II Honda Collegiate Woman Of Year Award, Earns Spot On ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Honors For Work In Classroom

May 30, 2005

The honors and accolades continue to pour in for the 2005 NCAA Division II national champion Stonehill women’s lacrosse team, as the Chieftains of Head Coach Michael Daly placed six individuals on the 2005 Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association/US Lacrosse Division II All-America squad, the highest total of any program in the country and the most in school history.

Leading the way on this year’s IWLCA/US Lacrosse All-America squad is junior Erin Acone (Bow, N.H./Bow), who earned All-America honors for the third straight season after being named as the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year for the second straight season earlier this spring. Acone netted a career-high 70 goals and posted 89 points to lead Stonehill in scoring once again, and she is one of 12 finalists nationally for the prestigious Honda Division II Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year in representing the sport of lacrosse. Acone is the second Chieftain to earn the Honda honors in three seasons, as former Chieftain standout Katie Lambert was also a finalist for the national award following her senior campaign in 2003.

Acone has also been tabbed as the 2005 ECAC Division II Player of the Year and was one of five Chieftains to earn a spot on this year’s ECAC all-star squad, and the talented midfielder has also been honored for her work in the classroom, as she is one of 11 individuals to be named to the 2004-2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team and will be eligible for selection to the national Academic All-America squad to be announced early next month. Erin sports a 3.24 cumulative grade point average as an Early Childhood Education major.

Acone was joined on the first team IWLCA/US Lacrosse All-America team by junior teammates Jenny McGrath (Milton, Mass./Milton) and Lauren Stone (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland). McGrath finished right behind Acone in the Chieftain scoring race with 57 goals and 28 assists for a career-high 85 points, while Stone posted a 19-0 mark in goal for Stonehill with a 4.45 goals against average and a .586 saves percentage, as she led all Division II goalies nationally in wins and goals against average while finishing second in saves percentage. Stone was named as the Most Valuable Player of the 2005 NCAA Division II Women’s Lacrosse Championships after making 21 saves in wins over Adelphi (16-10) in the national semi-finals and West Chester (13-10) in the national championship contest. McGrath and Stone earn All-America accolades for the first time in their respective careers.

Senior Colby Confer (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) and junior Kate Sarkissian (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich), along with freshman Kristin Darrell (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip), were named to the 2005 IWLCA/US Lacrosse second-team All-America squad. Confer earned All-America honors for the second time in her career after collecting 65 goals and 14 assists for 79 points, while Sarkissian (the 2004 IWLCA Division II Defensive Player of the Year) joins Acone and Lambert as the only three-time All-America performers in Stonehill history after keying a Chieftain defensive unit that allowed only 86 goals in 21 matches this spring (a best in nation 4.10 goals per game), as Stonehill allowed five or fewer goals on 16 occasions this season, including six efforts of allowing just one goal. Darrell made a sparkling debut during her rookie campaign, as she netted 56 goals and 14 assists for 70 points en route to earning the nod as the 2005 Northeast-10 Freshman of the Year.

Stone was named as the 2005 ECAC Division II Goalkeeper of the Year, as she joins Acone, Confer and seniors Colette Carpenter (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and Meaghan Carey (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) on the ECAC all-star squad. Carpenter netted 27 goals and 24 assists for 51 points in earning first team all-Northeast-10 honors this spring, while Carey closed out her career in being named as the 2005 Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year, as she led Stonehill with 65 ground balls and 26 caused turnovers during her final season of play.

The Chieftains were also highly visible on the 2005 Inside Lacrosse Division II All-America team, as Acone, Carey, Confer and Stone earned first team accolades from the magazine while Darrell, McGrath and Sarkissian earned second team honors. Acone was chosen as Inside Lacrosse’s 2005 Offensive Midfielder of the Year, while Stone was named as its 2005 Goalkeeper of the Year and Darrell was tabbed as the 2005 Rookie of the Year. Daly was also named as Inside Lacrosse’s 2005 Division II National Coach of the Year.

Stonehill capped its perfect 21-0 season by claiming its second NCAA Division II national crown in three seasons on May 15th with a 13-10 win at second-ranked West Chester, as the Chieftains became the first team in Division II history to claim multiple championships. Stonehill’s first national title came in 2003 when the Chieftains overcame a late three-goal deficit to post a last-second 9-8 victory over Longwood.

In seven seasons as a varsity program, Stonehill has posted an overall mark of 106-22 (.828) and has won all seven Northeast-10 Conference regular season championships as well as six league tournament titles. Stonehill has appeared in four of the five NCAA Division II tournaments contested since 2001, as the Chieftains have advanced to three NCAA national championship matches over that time span in claiming a pair of national crowns.