University of Connecticut Athletics
Kwasnowski Grabs IWLCA Second Team All-America Honors
5/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
GRAND LAKE, Colo. -- For the third straight year, a UConn women's lacrosse player has earned All-America honors.
Connecticut defender Lauren Kwasnowski (Kingston, N.Y.), who will compete for a spot on the U.S. Women's Lacrosse National Team next month, was tabbed a Second Team All-American, as announced by the organization on Monday. She was one of 48 players to receive the national honor.
The UConn junior standout joins former Connecticut midfielder Lauren Kahn as the other Husky to be named an All-American under fifth-year head coach Katie Woods. She becomes the fifth UConn player to earn All-America honors in program history, and she is just the second Connecticut player to receive the national accolade as a junior. Kahn was an All-America selection following her junior season in 2013.
Kwasnowski turned in a sensational 2015 campaign for the Huskies, who reached the Big East Finals for the first time ever earlier this month. The 2015 Big East Defender of the Year ranked second in the conference and 10th nationally with 1.94 caused turnovers per match, and her 2.22 ground balls per game were good for the third-highest mark among Big East players.
Kwasnowski served as the anchor for a Connecticut backline that boasted the second-best scoring defense (9.78 goals allowed/match) in the league, and the Huskies finished their 2015 season ranked fourth among Division I schools with 10.22 caused turnovers per game.
The Kingston, N.Y. native, who earned IWLCA All-Northeast First Team honors last week, tallied a team-best 40 ground balls in 2015 after totaling just 19 ground balls in her first two seasons combined in Storrs. She also ranked third on the team in draw controls (21) and she finished the year with two points on two assists.
Kwasnowski and Kahn will join current Huskies, junior goalkeeper Shannon Nee (Lancaster, Pa.) and freshman attacker Grace Nolan (Marcellus, N.Y.), in the tryouts for the U.S. National Team in June. The three-day event gets underway on June 12 at Johns Hopkins University. Â Â
