June 13, 2005
Baltimore, Md. – Notre Dame women’s lacrosse freshman standout Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) is one of 28 players to be selected to represent the United States on the 2005-06 U.S. Women’s Lacrosse Developmental Team. The roster was selected by the US Lacrosse National Teams Selection Committee, chaired by Barb Jordan.
The 2005-06 roster includes 10 players who played on the 2004-05 Developmental Team and four members of the 2003 U.S. Under-19 Team, which captured the IFWLA U-19 world championship. Sixteen members of the team will make their U.S. team debut.
The Developmental Team will participate in a clinic at the 2005 IFWLA World Cup in Annapolis, Md., on June 25, prior to the U.S. game against Canada. The team will then compete in exhibition games throughout the 2005-06 year.
McKinney becomes just the third Notre Dame player selected to the Developmental Team, joining two-time team members Danielle Shearer (2001-02 and 2002-03) and Kathryn Lam (2000-01 and 2001-02). Current Irish assistant coach Brooke Crawford and former assistant Jen Newitt were members of the 2001-02 team.
Being selected to the developmental team caps an outstanding rookie season for McKinney. Her 2005 season saw her selected second team all-BIG EAST and second team IWLCA Mid-Atlantic Region. She was also a member of the 2005 IWLCA Great Lakes Team. The lone freshman on the BIG EAST all-star team, McKinney became the first Notre Dame player ever selected all-BIG EAST as a freshman. She joined the Irish starting lineup in game one and went on to score 26 goals with 14 assists for 40 points to rank 11th among BIG EAST scorers. Her 40-point freshman campaign was the third-best in the program’s nine-year history, just missing the record of 41. Included in McKinney’s season was a career-best five-point game (3g, 2a) versus Duke and a total of six games with four or more points. She became the first freshman at Notre Dame to score four goals in her first collegiate game (vs. Ohio on Feb. 27). The fleet-footed attack standout started her rookie year with an 11-game point streak (20-12-32) and finished the year by scoring in 14 of Notre Dame’s 15 games on the season. She added 21 ground balls, had 15 draw controls and nine caused turnovers on the campaign.