Chicopee, MA --- Senior defender Kim Vail (W. Newbury, MA) and sophomore goalkeeper Haley Erickson (Saugus, MA) have each been named to the New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) all conference team. Vail earned first team accolades while Erickson was tabbed with second team honors.
Vail, who picked up a second-team honor last season, finished the 2010 campaign with 22 goals and four assists for a total of 26 points which was fifth on the squad. Vail led the team in caused turnovers (11) while she tied for second in both ground balls (32) and draw controls (23).
Vail was asked to play a more offensive role during the teams conference games and she delivered as she recorded three or more points in all seven contests which included a pair of four marker efforts in setbacks to Bridgewater State and Westfield State.
Vail ends her career at Worcester State with 92 draw controls, 127 ground balls and 52 caused turnovers. Since 2006, when all three statistics were kept consistently, Vail ranks first in draws, forced miscues while she is second all-time in ground balls.
Erickson is just the second goalkeeper ever to recieve a nod to the All-NEWLA team since the team earned varsity status in 2002. She joins three-time All-NEWLA honoree Lindsey Nunes.
Erickson ended the season playing all 667:29 minutes between the pipes as she posted a 13.57 goals against average and a .408 save percentage to go along with 104 saves in 11 games. Erickson finished the regular season fifth in saves per game (9.45), sixth in GAA and seventh in save percentage.
Erickson tied her career high twice as she notched 13 saves in victories over Rhode Island College and Framingham State.
Three student-athletes from Bridgewater State were honored with major awards as senior midfielder Shannon Manning was the NEWLA's Offensive Player of the Year, junior defender Erin Quimby was the Defensive Player of the Year and fourth-year keeper Meghan Griffen was the Goalkeeper of the Year. Freshman attacker Ariana Colella and senior defender Rachael Dionne of Westfield State were honored as the Rookie and Scholar Athletes of the Year, respectively. Greg Styles was named the Coach of the Year for guiding the Owls to second place in the conference.
Worcester State ended the season with a 5-6 overall record under the direction of fourth year head coach Deb Draper. The Lancers missed the NEWLA tournament for the first time in the eight year history of the program.