Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats, Kjellman Garner ALC Preseason Honors
2/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Feb. 20, 2007
In a vote of the league's five head coaches, Northwestern University, the two-time defending national champions, has been picked to win its fourth ALC title in a row. The `Cats have won 11 consecutive conference games and have not lost since the final regular-season game of 2004. Senior Kristen Kjellman, the two-time ALC Player of the Year, also has been selected as the preseason Player of the Year.
Kjellman, who was the 2006 recipient of the Tewaaraton Trophy, honoring the national player of the year, is joined on the preseason All-Conference team by three teammates. Johns Hopkins, who narrowly edged out Penn State for the number two slot in the preseason poll, were honored with four selections, while the Nittany Lions and Vanderbilt both claim two honorees.
Kjellman is joined on the team by Aly Josephs, Lindsay Finocchiaro, and Meredith Frank. All four student-athletes also were named preseason All-Americans by insidelacrosse.com; Kjellman, Josephs and Finocchiaro were placed on the first-team while Frank was a third-team designee. Finocchiaro was on the All-Conference team in 2006, while Frank was the ALC Rookie of the Year last year and was named to the All-ALC second-team along with Josephs.
The American Lacrosse Conference will sponsor a conference tournament for the first time in league history in 2007. Johns Hopkins will serve as the host for the 2007 tournament, which will run April 26-29. The winner of the tournament will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
ALC Preseason All-Conference Team
Sasha Cielak, Vanderbilt
Renee Cipro, Penn State
Margie Curran, Vanderbilt
Lindsay Finocchiaro, Northwestern
Meredith Frank, Northwestern
Sarah Gallion, Johns Hopkins
Kirsten Gilwee, Ohio State
Aly Josephs, Northwestern
Mary Key, Johns Hopkins
Kristen Kjellman, Northwestern
Jessi Lieb, Penn State
Kadie Stamper, Johns Hopkins
Lauren Schwarzmann, Johns Hopkins
ALC Projected Order of Finish
1. Northwestern
2. Johns Hopkins
3. Penn State
4. Vanderbilt
5. Ohio State
