Stonehill Places Five on Northeast-10 All-Conference Team

Reilly leads Skyhawks with selection to first team; four earn second team honors

EASTON, Mass. (May 3, 2011) – Five members of the Stonehill College women's lacrosse team, currently ranked seventh in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division II national poll, have been selected to the Northeast-10 All-Conference roster by the conference's 13 head coaches.


Kelsey Reilly

Sophomore midfielder Kelsey Reilly (Hingham, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) was named to the All-Conference first team; junior attacker Sam Lynott (Holbrook, N.Y./East Sachem) and senior defenders Emily Kerwin (Bristol, R.I./Portsmouth Abbey) and Devin O'Leary (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) were selected to the second team; and freshman midfielder Kelsey Shannahan (Mendham, N.J./Morris Catholic) was named to the second team and the All-Rookie squad.

Reilly earns her first career postseason award following a breakout sophomore season for Stonehill. In 16 games, Reilly scored 31 goals and picked up eight assists for 39 points, and emerged as one of the NE-10's top midfielders as she collected 36 ground balls and caused 30 turnovers, ranking 18th among all players in Division II in the latter category.

Her top scoring performance of the season came in Stonehill's 22-2 victory over Franklin Pierce University on April 6, when Reilly matched her single-game career high with six goals and added an assist for a seven-point day. In 33 career games, Reilly has totaled 60 goals and 26 assists for 86 points, as well as 85 ground balls and 59 caused turnovers.

  

Sam Lynott

Lynott, who earns her second consecutive selection to the All-Conference second team, is the Skyhawks' top scorer this season with a career-high 56 goals and 23 assists, ranking fifth in the NE-10 and 11th nationally in goals scored. She surpassed the career 100-point mark in Stonehill's third game of the season with a game-high four goals in an 11-10 win at Merrimack College, and has contributed aggressively on defense with 34 ground balls and a career-best 27 caused turnovers.

Lynott follows last year's standout sophomore campaign in which she was named to the IWLCA All-America second team and All-North Region squad. She is Stonehill's active scoring leader with 116 career goals and 166 total points.


Emily Kerwin

Kerwin earns her first All-Conference nod following a career year on defense in her senior season. She ranks third on the team with 42 ground balls and 36 caused turnovers, both career bests, and established new single-game career highs of seven ground balls and six caused turnovers this year. Kerwin turned in her best defensive performance of the season in Stonehill's 11-9 victory over C.W. Post on April 16, scooping seven ground balls and causing five turnovers to help the Skyhawks topple the Pioneers for the first time since 2005.

An IWLCA All-North Region honoree in 2010, Kerwin ranks fourth in the NE-10 and 10th nationally in Division II this season in caused turnovers, and was named to the NE-10 All-Championship Team last spring as the Skyhawks advanced to the conference title game.

  

Devin O'Leary

O'Leary also earns her first All-Conference selection as a three-year starter and consistent anchor of Stonehill's senior defensive core. In 14 games this season, she notched 11 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers while picking up five draw controls and a pair of assists. A constant presence around the net, O'Leary helped captain the Stonehill defense to a regular-season average of 7.71 goals allowed per game, ranking third in the NE-10 and sixth nationally in Division II, and the Skyhawks' best mark in three seasons.

O'Leary was an IWLCA All-North Region honoree as a sophomore in 2009, and has also been recognized for academic achievement as the team's only four-time member of the Stonehill Athletic Director's Honor Roll.


Kelsey Shannahan

Shannahan caps her outstanding rookie season with an All-Conference second team nod and All-Rookie selection. She made an immediate impact in the Stonehill midfield as a starter in her first collegiate season, leading the team with 54 ground balls and causing 37 turnovers to rank third in the NE-10 and seventh nationally in Division II. Shannahan also netted 23 goals and collected nine assists for 32 points, and ranks third on the team in draw controls with 31.

Shannahan earned NE-10 Rookie of the Week honors once this season, helping Stonehill to a pair of non-conference victories over Rollins College and Shepherd University during spring break competition.

Stonehill (14-3, 10-2 NE-10) has earned the third seed in the NE-10 Women's Lacrosse Championship, and will host sixth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University in first round action tomorrow at W.B. Mason Stadium at 4:00 p.m.