Big South Announces 2024 Women's Lacrosse Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Mercer’s
Gabby DiVirgilio (Suwanee, Ga.) has been voted the 2024 Big South Women’s Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Year by the Conference’s head coaches, it was announced this morning by the league office. In addition, Mercer’s
Kayla Soltys (Gainesville, Va.) is the Midfielder of the Year, while Furman’s
Katelyn Sousa (New Fairfield, Conn.) and Wofford’s
Lily Barger (Matthews, N.C.) shared the Defensive Player of the Year honor from the panel. High Point midfielder
Aryss Lindsey (Silver Spring, Md.) was selected Newcomer of the Year, Mercer midfielder
Ansley Walters (Canton, Ga.) was tabbed Freshman of the Year, while High Point’s
Lyndsey Boswell was voted Coach of the Year. The Big South’s sports information directors voted Furman’s
Hannah Dintino (Westminster, Md.) as the Women’s Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
DiVirgilio is the second consecutive Mercer Bear to be voted Big South Offensive Player of the Year. She finished the regular-season with 85 points and 5.00 points per game, while registering 51 goals in her 17 appearances (3.00 per match). DiVirgilio also tallied 34 assists and 10 total hat tricks -- including four games with at least five goals. She scored a season-high six goals at Kennesaw State on Feb. 28, and had a season-best 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) against Coastal Carolina on March 9. In eight Big South matches this season, DiVirgilio had six hat tricks, 28 goals (3.50 per match) and 19 assists for 47 points (5.88 average), and was a three-time Big South Offensive Player of the Week honoree. DiVirgilio received five first-place votes and 19 points in the voting, ahead of High Point’s
Jordan Miles (three first-place votes and 15 points) and Furman’s
Anna Roser (10 points).
Soltys is the first Mercer student-athlete to win Midfielder of the Year honors in the award’s three years of existence. She finished the regular-season as the Big South leader in draw controls with 117, which is fifth-most in a single-season in league history, and she ranks 16th in the nation with her 6.88 draw controls per game. Soltys scored 45 goals to rank among the conference leaders (tied for seventh), while her three game-winning goals tied for the most in the Big South. The two-time Big South Defensive Player of the Week honoree tied the conference single-match record with 16 draw controls against Gardner-Webb on April 3. Soltys tallied nine hat tricks on the year, and had seven games with at least eight draw controls -- including three double-digit efforts. In Big South action, Soltys had 69 draw controls (8.63 per game average) as well as 25 goals and 28 points. In the voting, Soltys received five first-place votes and 18 points, just ahead of High Point’s
Esprit Cha (three first-place votes and 17 points) and Furman’s Dintino (one first-place vote and 15 points).
This is the fourth time with co-winners for Big South Defensive Player of the Year award, as Sousa and Barger tied with 13 points in the voting. Sousa (four first-place votes) matches up on the opposition’s top player and is a lockdown defender. She was second on the Paladins with 29 ground balls, and also compiled 32 draw controls and 14 caused turnovers. In league play, Sousa managed 13 ground balls, 14 draw controls and caused seven takeaways in her eight matches.
Barger (two first-place votes) finished as the Big South regular-season leader with her 52 ground balls and 3.25 per game average. She was also tops in the conference in caused turnovers with 36, while her 2.25 per match average ranked second. Barger tallied multiple caused turnovers in all eight Big South appearances, including four against Furman and Radford, and had five ground balls against Radford and High Point. HPU’s Lindsey finished with 12 points (one first-place vote) in the Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Lindsey is the first Big South Women’s Lacrosse Newcomer of the Year, which recognizes the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. The Big South Defensive Player of the Week honoree following the opening week of the season, the defender finished the regular-season with 26 ground balls and 29 caused turnovers, while scoring three goals with one assist. Lindsey defended each team’s top player, held the Big South’s top scorer to two goals, and had four caused turnovers against nationally-ranked Duke. Lindsey collected seven first-place votes and 15 points in Newcomer of the Year balloting, ahead of Presbyterian attacker
Brooke Chandler (two first-place votes and seven points).
Walters is the first Bear to be voted Big South Freshman of the Year. She was the Big South Freshman of the Week four times in 2024, including three-straight weeks from Feb. 27-March 12. Walters notched 19 goals and six assists for 25 points, in addition to 29 ground balls, 22 caused turnovers and 39 draw controls. In eight Big South contests this season, she scored seven times and tallied 10 points, along with 19 draw controls, 13 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers. Walters received six first-place votes and 21 points in the Freshman of the Year voting, ahead of Longwood attacker
Holly Hill (10 points, two first-place votes).
Boswell is now a 7-time Big South Coach of the Year honoree, as she led the Panthers to an 11-5 overall record for the program’s most regular-season wins since 2019. High Point finished the conference season 7-1, marking the third-straight year with at least seven Big South victories. HPU held first-place Mercer to its fewest goals in a conference match this season (13). The Panthers were the only Big South to program to record four consecutive 20-goal matches this season (all in league play from April 3-13), and carries a seven-match win streak into this weekend’s Big South Championship Tournament. High Point finished the conference campaign first in caused turnovers (12.62), assists (9.75) and shot percentage (55.5), and was second in goals against average (9.38), draw controls (17.62), points (27.50) and goals (17.75). Overall, the Panthers rank second in goals (14.31), points (21.06), caused turnovers (9.94) and GAA (12.56). Boswell finished with six first-place votes and 22 points in the voting, ahead of Mercer’s
Samantha Eustace (two first-place votes and 14 points).
Dintino is a 4.0 graduate student working on her Master of Arts in Teaching. She appeared in all 17 matches this season for the Paladins and has 39 goals, 44 points and 38 draw controls. Dintino scored the game-winning goal in Furman’s road win at Longwood, and had at least one goal and one point in all but one appearance this season.
The Big South also announced the 2024 All-Conference and All-Academic teams Thursday, which are listed below. The All-Conference team is voted by the head coaches and features two teams of three attackers, three midfielders, three defenders, one goalkeeper and three at-large selections, plus five honorable mention honorees regardless of position. The All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the league’s sports information directors.
2024 BIG SOUTH WOMEN’S LACROSSE ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
ATT – Gabby DiVirgilio, Sr., Mercer
ATT – Jordan Miles, Jr., High Point
ATT – Bria Foley, Jr., Wofford
MF – Kayla Soltys, Gr., Mercer
MF – Esprit Cha, Jr., High Point
MF – Hannah Dintino, Gr., Furman
D – Katelyn Sousa, Sr., Furman
D – Lily Barger, R-Soph., Wofford
D – Aryss Lindsey, Sr., High Point
GK – Kate Vanderlinde, Gr., Mercer
AL – Anna Roser, ATT, Jr., Furman
AL – Sophia Buzelis, MF, Jr., Furman
AL – Julia Koenig, D, Sr., Longwood
SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
ATT – Riley McDonald, Sr., Longwood
ATT – Maddi Koury, Sr., Mercer
ATT – Sophie Shaw, Sr., Furman
MF – Ansley Walters, Fr., Mercer
MF – Emma Stalteri, Soph., Wofford
MF – Mady Cheney, Soph., Radford
D – Abby Soltys, Jr., Mercer
D – Avery West, Soph., Presbyterian
D – Barrett Rowe, Soph., Wofford
GK – Olivia Hunter, Sr., Radford
AL – Kay Rosselli, MF, Sr., High Point
AL – Caroline Glus, ATT, Soph., Mercer
AL – Claire Libby, MF, Gr., Longwood
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Sydney Martin, D, Soph., High Point
Lauren Davis, D, Soph., Radford
Emily Strother, D, Jr., Radford
Mandy Brockamp, MF, Jr., High Point
Madison Mayer, Fr, MF, Winthrop
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Hannah Dintino, Gr., Furman
Emma Duchscherer, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Tatum Mehring, R-Soph., High Point
Julia Koenig, Sr., Longwood
Kate Vanderlinde, Gr., Mercer
Willow Hammond, Jr., Presbyterian
River Rupert, Jr., Radford
Ellie Dutton, Sr., Winthrop
Carley Irvin, Jr., Wofford
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Gabby DiVirgilio, ATT, Sr., Mercer
MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR
Kayla Soltys, Gr., Mercer
CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Katelyn Sousa, D, Sr., Furman
Lily Barger, D, R-Soph., Wofford
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Aryss Lindsey, D, Sr., High Point
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Ansley Walters, MF, Fr., Mercer
COACH OF THE YEAR
Lyndsey Boswell, High Point
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Hannah Dintino, Furman