Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/17/10
Two Lehigh women’s lacrosse players were honored by the Patriot League as sophomore Leigh Ann Torcivia earned her second straight Defensive Player of the Week accolade and freshman MaryLeah DiNisco was named Goalkeeper of the Week.
Torcivia garnered her first goal of the season in Lehigh’s win over Bucknell last week and also totaled eight ground balls, five draw controls and three caused turnovers in two Mountain Hawk wins. DiNisco meanwhile earned her first career start in goal last week and responded with nine saves and a victory. In two games she posted a save percentage of 72%.
In the win over Le Moyne on March 9 Torcivia picked up five ground balls, won three draw controls and caused one turnover. The New Jersey native then totaled one goal, three ground balls, two draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers in the Mountain Hawks’ win over Bucknell in Lewisburg. She helped anchor a Lehigh defense that surrendered only two goals in the win over the Bison.
For the season Torcivia leads Lehigh with 14 ground balls, 11 draw controls and six caused turnovers.
DiNisco registered two victories for the Brown and White last week. The freshman goalkeeper made nine saves versus Le Moyne and added four in the win over Bucknell. She faced 26 shots during the week and stopped 72% of them. For the season DiNisco has played 164 minutes in goal and stopped 19 shots during that time. She is a perfect 3-0 this season and has allowed only 3.6 goals per contest.
Penn’s Szelest is Ivy League Defensive Player of the week
Senior goalkeeper Emily Szelest was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after backstopping Penn to a pair of wins.
The reigning NCAA goals-against average leader from last season, Szelest lowered her 2010 GAA to 6.44 last week by holding Hofstra to five goals and Harvard to six.
Szelest has now started all five games for Penn and 23 in a row dating back to last season. She is 4-1 in 2010 and 19-4 over that span.
On Wednesday, Szelest made eight saves and was the leader of a defensive unit that came up big to stave off a charging Hofstra team. Four of her saves came in the second half and she was instrumental in a late-game stop which proved to be the difference.
On Saturday, in Penn’s Ivy League opener, Szelest made four saves in the game, helping the Quakers extend their Ivy winning streak to 23 games.
