April 23, 2008
WASHINGTON -
The American University lacrosse team placed six student-athletes on the All-Patriot League teams, the league announced Wednesday. The Eagles had a conference-high five first team selections and one second team pick, all seniors.
Lauren Aksionoff, Caitlin Bell, Brittany Finnegan, Jackie Lane and Kristine Vida were all named to the All-PL First Team, while Lauren Lane was named to the second team. This was Bell's third straight season on the first team, while Jackie Lane and Aksionoff are all making their second appearances to the first team. Finnegan and Vida were second team honorees a year ago and Lauren Lane was named to her first All-PL team in her final campaign.
Aksionoff is second on the team in scoring this year with 27 goals and 12 assists. She broke the program's career record for assists in the regular season finale against Colgate and now has 56 over her four years. She has a .500 shooting percentage this season, connecting on 27-54 shots and has seven ground balls and won nine draws.
Bell, who has missed the last five games due to injury, made an impact in the three conference games she played and tallied six goals and two assists on the season. Bell, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, has 15 ground balls, won 17 draws and caused 18 turnovers.
Finnegan is fourth on the team in scoring, scoring 15 goals and adding an assist. She has tallied one game-winning goal and has 32 ground balls, 23 draw controls and 14 caused turnovers. Finnegan was twice named Defensive Player of the Week, most recently following American's 13-10 win over Colgate.
Jackie Lane leads the team in scoring with 36 goals and 17 assists. She leads all field players with 33 ground balls and also ranks first on the team in draw controls (25) and caused turnovers (23). Lane was named Offensive Player of the Week on March 12, and ranks eighth in the Patriot League in assists and points. Lane currently holds a 36-game point streak.
Vida closes out her career with her second-consecutive All-League nod, and posted totals of 176 goals against, 11.66 goals against average, 174 saves and a save percentage of 0.497 this season. She was named PL Goalkeeper of the week a league-high four times this season.
Lauren Lane ranks third on the team with 19 goals, nine assists and one game-winning goal this season. Lane had a career performance this season against Holy Cross, in which she scored a career-high five goals. This is Lane's first All-PL selection.
American is now set to host the PL Tournament as the conference's No. 1 seed. AU will play host to fourth seed Navy at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 25, with No. 2 Colgate and No. 3 Lehigh scheduled to follow at 3:30 p.m. The winners of each game will then meet at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, in the PL Championship game.
