Big South Announces 2021 Women's Lacrosse Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point senior Abby Hormes (Fallston, Md.) has been voted the 2021 Big South Women’s Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Year by the Conference’s head coaches, it was announced this afternoon by the league office. In addition, HPU’s Ashley Britton (Annandale, Va.) and Winthrop’s Kimora Bailey (McDonough, Ga.) shared Defensive Player of the Year honors from the panel. Radford attacker Ava Goeller (Forest Hill, Md.) 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 Longwood’s Dana Joss as the Women’s Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Hormes is the first two-time Big South Offensive Player of the Year honoree since the league began sponsoring women’s lacrosse in 2013. She finished the regular-season as the Big South’s overall leader in goals with 65 (second in the nation) and goals per game (4.33), points with 83 and points per game (5.53), and in the Top 10 in assists (18) and assists per game (1.20). She also ranks in the league’s Top 5 in draw controls (64) and draw controls per game (4.27). The only Big South player averaging at least 4.00 goals and 5.00 points this season, Hormes is on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List that recognizes the top player in college lacrosse. She tallied 13 hat tricks in 2021 -- including eight goals against Campbell on April 7 in addition to a 10-point game (7 G, 3 A) vs. Winthrop on April 10. The four-time Big South Offensive Player of the Week scored 32 goals in her six Big South matches this season (5.33 per game) and scored 43 points against conference foes (7.17). Hormes received the maximum six first-place votes and 12 points in the voting, ahead of Campbell’s Julianna Sanchez (five points).
Britton is the fourth-straight Panther to be voted Big South Defensive Player of the Year, and helped the High Point defense hold Big South foes to a league-low 45 goals. Britton led the conference during the regular-season with 2.69 ground balls per game (35 in 13 matches), averaged 3.62 draw controls per match (47 in 13) and caused 16 turnovers. She helped HPU average league-bests of 21.80 ground balls (fifth-most in the nation) and 10.00 caused turnovers per game.
Bailey started all 14 games for the Eagles and won a team-high 63 draw controls. She averaged 4.50 draw controls per game, good enough to rank fourth in the Big South. Bailey finished second on the team with 20 ground balls and fourth with 13 caused turnovers. She totaled a career-high 10 draw controls at Gardner-Webb and picked up a career-high four ground balls against Kennesaw State. Bailey was part of a defense that posted the lowest goals-against average in the Big South at 11.31, finish second in caused turnovers (9.79) and allowed the second-fewest goals in conference matches (58).
Britton (three first-place votes) and Bailey (two first-place votes) finished with 11 points each in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, ahead of Radford’s Katie Bendrick (nine points).
Goeller is the first Highlander to be voted Big South Freshman of the Year. She concluded the regular-season with a team-high 30 goals along with four assists, 34 points, 25 draw controls, 19 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers. A three-time Big South Freshman of the Week honoree, Goeller scored 15 goals in her six conference games (2.50 per match) as well as 18 points (3.00). She had seven hat tricks in her first season -- including four scores against Gardner-Webb, Campbell and Presbyterian. Goeller finished with nine points in the Freshman of the Year voting (four first-place votes) to edge out Campbell’s Lizzie Yurchak (six points, two first-place votes).
Boswell led the Panthers to an undefeated conference season (6-0) for the fourth consecutive campaign, and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big South Women’s Lacrosse Championship. The Panthers ranked first overall in goals scored (14.47), points per game (20.87), shots (34.27), shots on goal (24.13), ground balls (21.80) and caused turnovers (10.00). In Big South competition, High Point paced the circuit with 112 goals (18.67), 55 assists (9.17), 167 points (27.83), 241 shots (40.17), 177 shots on goal (29.50), fewest turnovers with 81, and goals-against average at 7.50. Now a five-time Big South Coach of the Year honoree, Boswell finished with two first-place votes and 12 points in the voting, just ahead of Radford’s Haley Hardy (three first-place votes and 11 points) and Campbell’s Dawn Easley (two first-place votes and 11 points).
Joss is a 4.0 student working on her MBA. A 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-American who graduated as co-valedictorian of Longwood’s 2020 class, Joss finished her final year of eligibility in 2021 with 19 goals, 15 assists, 34 points, 53 draw controls, 25 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers. She earned her undergraduate degree in History as a 4.0 student.
The Big South also announced the 2021 All-Conference and All-Academic teams Thursday afternoon, 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.
2021 BIG SOUTH WOMEN’S LACROSSE ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
ATT – Abby Hormes, Sr., High Point
ATT – Julianna Sanchez, R-Fr., Campbell
ATT – Rachel Foster, Sr., High Point
MF – Ashley Britton, Gr., High Point
MF – Lizzie Yurchak, Fr., Campbell
MF – Sam Bischoff, Fr., Campbell
D – Megan Nerney, Gr., High Point
D – Katie Bendrick, Jr., Radford
D – Kimora Bailey, Soph., Winthrop
GK – Alex Salim, R-Jr., Campbell (tie)
GK – Jill Rall, Gr., High Point (tie)
AL – Bianca Tedesco, Sr., ATT, Winthrop
AL – Ava Goeller, Fr., ATT, Radford
AL – Talen Francis, Sr., ATT, Gardner-Webb (tie)
AL – Rebekah Taylor, R-Fr., D, Campbell (tie)
SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
ATT – Lindsey Carroll, Sr., Radford
ATT – McKenna Blick, Sr., Winthrop
ATT - Megan Matthews, Jr., Campbell
MF – Katie Hormes, Fr., High Point
MF – Alyssa Angelo, Fr., Winthrop
MF – Dana Joss, Gr., Longwood
D – Heather Lobas, Jr., Gardner-Webb
D – Rachel Rogers, Sr., Radford
D – Chandler Stewart, R-Fr., Campbell
GK – Sara McGuire, Sr., Winthrop
AL – Grace Gleason, Jr., MF, Radford
AL – Abby Edminsten, Soph., MF, Presbyterian College
AL – Kaely Kyle, Sr., MF, High Point
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Mena Loescher, Jr., ATT, High Point
Emma Johnson, Sr., MF, Longwood
Lauren Asher, Jr., MF, Winthrop
Emma Genovese, Jr., MF, High Point
Lauren Cerretani, Soph., D, Longwood
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Megan Matthews, Jr., ATT, Campbell
Janice Donaldson, Gr., D, Gardner-Webb
Ashley Britton, Gr., MF, High Point
Dana Joss, Gr., MF, Longwood
Sarah Marshall, Sr., ATT, Presbyterian College
Rachel Rogers, Sr., D, Radford
Olivia Deaver, Sr., MF, Winthrop
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Abby Hormes, Sr., ATT, High Point
CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Ashley Britton, Gr., MF, High Point
Kimora Bailey, D, Winthrop
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Ava Goeller, Fr., ATT, Radford
COACH OF THE YEAR
Lyndsey Boswell, High Point
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Dana Joss, Gr., MF, Longwood