Kenzie Kent from Boston College, Marie McCool of the University of North Carolina, Stony Brook University’s Kylie Ohlmiller and Zoe Stukenberg from the University of Maryland are the four nominees for the Honda Sport Award for Lacrosse as announced by Chris Voelz, Executive Director of THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) today.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 41 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA- sanctioned sports and signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”. The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2017 Honda Cup which will be presented on a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on Monday, June 26, 2017, in downtown Los, Angeles.
The nominees were chosen by a panel of coaches representing the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA). The Honda Sport award winner for lacrosse will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
Kent, a junior attack player from Norwell, Mass., was the 2017 NCAA Lacrosse Championship Most Outstanding Player and became the first player in NCAA DI Lacrosse Championship history to earn tournament MOP honors despite not being a member of the winning team. A two-sport athlete having played on the women’s hockey Frozen Four team in the winter, she scored 37 points in the postseason to set a new NCAA Tournament scoring record.
A junior midfielder from Moorestown, N.J., McCool is a 2017 Tewaaraton Award finalist and a two-time IWLCA first-team All-American. She was named the ACC Midfielder of the Year and ranked second on the team in goals with 50 on the season. She is a two-time All-ACC first-team and All-Tournament team honoree and is one of only two current college players on the 2017 US Lacrosse World Cup team.
Ohlmiller, hailing from Islip, N.Y., is a 2017 Tewaaraton Award finalist and set a new Division I record for points (148) and assists (86) in a single season. The attack player tied for second nationally in goals scored with 78 on the year and is the first player in DI history with 70 goals and 70 assists in a season. A first-team IWLCA All-American, she was named the 2017 America East Player of the Year.
Also a 2017 Tewaaraton Award finalist , Stukenberg helped her team to its third championship title in four years and an undefeated 23-0 record. The senior midfielder from Ellicott City, Md., is a first-team IWLCA All-American and the 2017 Big Ten Midfielder of the Year. After winning the NCAA Elite 90 award this spring, she is just the fourth student-athlete in the history of the award to win it three times.
Honda Sport award winners will be presented with the honor during on-campus presentations throughout the year and all Honda Sport award winners become a finalist for the prestigious 2017 Honda Cup award presented in June.
THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards has honored the nation’s top NCAA women athletes for 41 years, recognizing superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service. Since commencing its sponsorship in 1986, Honda has provided more than $3.1 million in institutional grants to the universities of the award winners and nominees to support women’s athletics programs at the institutions.