July 18, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team has announced it’s major award winners for the 2008 season. In voting done by the players, senior midfielder Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) was selected as the team’s Notre Dame Monogram Club Most Valuable Player. Fellow senior Becky Ranck (Radnor, Pa.) was awarded the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award and sophomore Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) was chosen as the team’s most improved player.
McKinney adds to her long list of honors with the team’s most valuable player award as she closed out a brilliant career at Notre Dame in 2008. At the end of the season, the speedy midfielder became just the third Notre Dame women’s lacrosse player to be selected as a first team Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association (IWLCA) All-American. She, along with teammate Jillian Byers also became the first three-time All-Americans in the program’s history. A three-time unanimous first team all-BIG EAST selection, McKinney also was selected as a first team All-American by womenslacrosse.com. The 2008 BIG EAST midfielder of the year, she finished second on the team in scoring with 38 goals and 25 assists for 63 points. McKinney finished her career as Notre Dame’s all-time assist leader with 80 and is second in points (232) and third in goals (152). A finalist, along with Byers for the Tewaaraton Trophy, she was selected to the 2008 BIG EAST all-tournament team this spring. She owns the longest point streak in school history as she scored in 51 consecutive games from April 24, 2005 to April 9, 2008. The talented senior also got things done in the classroom as she was selected to ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA second team all-academic District Five team and was selected as a BIG EAST Aeropostale Scholar-Athlete Award winner for 2007-08. The conference also honored McKinney as an inaugural winner of the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence award winner that recognizes academic and athletic achievement as well as community service. She was named the winner of Notre Dame’s Francis Patrick O’Connor Award that goes to the senior student-athlete who best exemplifies the true spirit of Notre Dame.
“Caitlin was very deserving of this award as she was very instrumental in our success this season both on and off the field. Her passion for the game and tremendous work ethic gained her the utmost respect of her teammates,” said head coach Tracy Coyne.
“She had a tremendous career at Notre Dame and made a huge impact on the success and development of the program during her four seasons with the Irish.”
Graduated senior Becky Ranck was named the winner of the women’s lacrosse teams Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2008 season.
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Ranck receives Notre Dame’s Rockne Scholar-Athlete award with a 3.427 grade-point average and graduated with a degree in Anthropology on May 18. A four-time monogram winner, Ranck served as one of the team’s captains during her senior year. The leader of the Notre Dame defense, she finished the season tied for third in ground balls (30), and was second in caused turnovers with 29. A second team all-BIG EAST selection and second team IWLCA West/Midwest Regional choice, Ranck played in 66 career games, making 50 starts while finishing with 76 career ground balls, 33 draw controls and 83 caused turnovers, a mark that ties her for second all-time with Kathryn Lam `02 in that category.
“I’m pleased to see Becky receive the Rockne Student-Athlete award. During her career, she always excelled in the classroom,” said Coyne.
“She was a true role model for her teammates who admired and respected her for her hard work and dedication both on and off the field.”
Scioscia was selected by her teammates as the team’s most improved player for the 2008 campaign. The sophomore attack standout moved into a regular role on the Irish offense and saw a 47-point improvement in her game, the largest improvement by any Irish women’s lacrosse player from her freshman to sophomore season. Scioscia finished third in team scoring with 20 goals and 35 assists for 55 points. That came after a freshman year of limited playing time that saw her get four goals and four assists for eight points. Her 35-assist season was the second-best, single-season mark for assists, just five off the record of 40 set by Crysti Foote in 2006. Her 39 career assists rank her ninth on the all-time Notre Dame assist list. Only one player in the program’s history has ever made a bigger jump from one season to the next. In 2006, Foote had a 64-point improvement from her junior to senior year, going from 50 points as a junior to 114 as a senior.
“We had a feeling that Gina could be an impact player for us coming into this season,” said Coyne.
“She has great hands and the ability to find the open shots. She really settled into her role and became more confident as the season went on. Gina will have an impact on our future success.”
The postseason awards didn’t end with McKinney, Ranck and Scioscia. Junior Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) added to her honors as she was selected second team All-American by Inside Lacrosse magazine and womenslacrosse.com. That marks the third time in her career that she has received All-American honors from both sources. In 2006, the attack standout was a third team choice by Inside Lacrosse and a second team pick by womenslacrosse.com. As a sophomore in 2007, Byers was a third team selection on both teams.
During 2008, Byers led the team in scoring with a career-high 67 goals to go with 14 assists for a career-best 81 points while also setting the Irish mark with 52 draw controls on the year. She is the only Notre Dame player to ever score 50 or more goals in a season three consecutive years and became the school’s all-time goal scoring leader with 179 in just three years. Her 81-point season was the second most in one season at Notre Dame. Along with McKinney, she was one of 18 nominees for the prestigious Tewaaraton Trophy, becoming just the fourth player in school history to be nominated. Byers was also selected as a unanimous first team all-BIG EAST pick for the third consecutive year. She finished her junior year ranked first in goals (179), third in points (225) and seventh in assists (46) at Notre Dame.
Rounding out the postseason honors was freshman midfielder Shaylyn Blaney (Stony Brook, N.Y.) who was named to womenslacrosse.com’s All-Rookie team for 2008. Blaney turned in an outstanding rookie year in 2008, teaming with McKinney to give Notre Dame one of the top midfield duos in the nation. The talented freshman finished second in goals (43) and fourth in scoring on the team with 52 points. Her goal and point totals are the second-best totals for an Irish freshman, trailing Byers’ rookie marks of 54 goals and 78 points in 2006. A second team all-BIG EAST selection, Blaney was selected to the BIG EAST all-tournament team after scoring a career-high five goals in the BIG EAST semifinal game versus Georgetown. For the season, Blaney chipped in eight games with four or more points. She added 26 ground balls, 43 draw controls and 22 caused turnovers in her first year at Notre Dame.