Aug. 26, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – Four members of the 2010 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team – graduated seniors Rachel Guerrera (Wantagh, N.Y.) and Maggie Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) and juniors Lauren Fenlon (Dayton, Md.) and Meredith Locasto (Pittsburgh, Pa.) – have been selected to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) academic honor roll for the 2010 campaign. The four Irish players were among a group of 151 Division I women’s lacrosse juniors and seniors with 3.5 grade-point averages or better or ranked in the top 10 percent of their team to be honored by the coaches’ association.
The Notre Dame team also was among 51 Division I institutions to earn Academic Squad honors with three programs named Merit Squads. Teams that have a collective GPA of 3.0 or greater earn the distinction of Academic Squad while the three highest-ranking teams – Hofstra, Stanford and Duke – were named a Merit Squad. As a team, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team had a 3.208 grade-point average.
For Guerrera, a 2010 team captain, this marked the second time that she was named to the IWLCA academic honor roll as she also was chosen as a junior in 2009. The talented defender had a 3.917 grade-point average in her senior year and graduated with a double major in American Studies and Film, Television and Theatre. A three-year starter on defense for the Irish, Guerrera was a second team all-BIG EAST selection in 2010 and was named to the IWLCA all-West/Midwest regional second team for the second time. Last season, she helped Notre Dame’s defense limit opponents to just 10.06 goals per game while grabbing 29 ground balls and causing 21 turnovers. A two-time BIG EAST academic all-star, she was chosen as the women’s lacrosse teams’ Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley’s Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award winner following the 2010 season.
Zentgraf was selected to the IWLCA academic honor roll for the first time as a senior in 2010. The midfielder served as a team captain along with Guerrera and helped the Irish advance to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. Zentgraf had a 3.583 grade-point average as a senior and graduated with a degree in Sociology from Notre Dame in May of 2010. A 2009 BIG EAST academic all-star, Zentgraf saw action in 13 games, making two starts and had one goal and one assist for two points while grabbing three ground balls, three draw controls and one caused turnover.
Fenlon teamed with Guerrera to give the Irish one of the top defensive duos in the BIG EAST. A tough, tenacious defender, she helped Notre Dame record its lowest goals-against average (10.06) since 2006. A two-year starter for coach Tracy Coyne, she was named the team’s unsung hero following the season. On the year, she was fifth in ground balls (27), grabbed six draw controls and caused 12 turnovers. In the classroom, Fenlon was selected as a BIG EAST academic all-star in 2009 and had a 3.50 grade-point average as a junior as a Sociology major in the College of Arts and Letters.
Locasto rounds out the group of four named to the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll after turning in the top grade-point average among all Irish women’s lacrosse juniors and seniors with a 3.967 grade-point average for the 2009-10 school year. An outstanding all-around student, the Pittsburgh native graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Accountancy from the prestigious Mendoza College of Business in just three years. She will play her final season at Notre Dame this year as a graduate student in the Mendoza College of Business. Locasto was a Dean’s List student in each of her first six semesters at Notre Dame. A member of the lacrosse team’s attack unit, she has played in six games during her first three seasons, scoring three goals.