Lady Flames Feature 10 in ASUN Postseason Honors & Awards, Led By DPOY Loughery
5/3/2023 12:05:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
ASUN regular season champion Liberty was well represented in the 2023 ASUN Conference Women's Lacrosse Postseason Honors & Awards in advance of this week's ASUN Championship. The Lady Flames had 10 different honorees on the ASUN All-Conference teams, ASUN All-Freshman team and ASUN All-Academic team.
The top-seeded Lady Flames (11-6, 7-0 ASUN) featured four ASUN All-Conference first team honorees, led by ASUN Defensive Player of the Year Grace Loughery. Mackenzie Lehman, Lizzy Ferguson and Taylor Gallarello rounded out the All-ASUN first team for Liberty.
Liberty had three players named to the ASUN All-Conference second team: Cami Merkel, Mikayla Coghill and Tori Banks. Two Lady Flames, Katie Colavito and Jenna Burrow, garnered ASUN All-Freshman team distinction.
Liberty featured three-student athletes on the ASUN All-Academic team, including Andrea Colavito, Banks and Merkel. In order to be eligible for the ASUN All-Academic team, ASUN student-athletes must have a minimum 3.30 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale), completed four semesters of college coursework or 50 percent of progress towards their degree, participated in 50 percent of the team's contests and have one year of residence at the institution.
Liberty's four first team honorees are tied for the most in the ASUN. The Lady Flames also tied for the most ASUN All-Freshman team members with two. Liberty has featured 27 ASUN All-Conference/All-Freshman team honorees over the past two seasons as well as eight ASUN All-Academic team members.
Liberty (11-6, 7-0 ASUN) is the No. 1 seed for the 2023 ASUN Women's Lacrosse Championship. The Lady Flames have a bye through the first round of the tournament and will face either No. 4 seed Queens (9-7, 4-3 ASUN) or No. 5 seed Kennesaw State (4-12, 3-4 ASUN) in Thursday's semifinal round. First draw is slated for 1 p.m. at Jacksonville's Rock Stadium and can be seen on ESPN+.
Grace Loughery (Defensive Player of the Year, First Team)
A graduate transfer from Navy, Loughery is the first ASUN Defensive Player of the Year in program history. This is her first ASUN All-Conference first team selection, and she was a unanimous selection. The defender was named the ASUN Defensive Player of the Week on April 11 after totaling six ground balls and five caused turnovers in road wins over Coastal Carolina and Queens. Loughery had the best game of her career against No. 9 Florida (April 12) with six ground balls and five caused turnovers.
Loughery leads all Liberty players in ground balls (46) and caused turnovers (28) for a Liberty defensive unit which is in the top five in the country in caused turnovers per game (No. 5, 12.18) and ground balls per game (No. 5, 19.71). The grad transfer has also tallied three assists as a defender and seven draw controls on the year. Loughery recorded eight games with multiple ground balls and eight with multiple caused turnovers.
Mackenzie Lehman (First Team)
Lehman earns a spot on the ASUN All-Conference first team for the second straight year. Lehman also garnered recognition as ASUN Freshman of the Year, All-Conference second team and All-Freshman honors in 2021. The junior has appeared in 16 games and is second on the team in goals (33), tied for first in assists (15) and second in points (48). The midfielder has also tallied 31 draw controls and 20 caused turnovers (both second on team).
Lehman recorded at least three goals in six games and at least three points in nine contests. Lehman led the Lady Flames with four goals in a key 12-10 win over No. 21 Jacksonville (April 1).
Lizzy Ferguson (First Team)
This is Ferguson's first ASUN All-Conference first team honor after she earned second team honors in 2022. The senior led the ASUN and finished the regular season second in the nation with 9.76 draw control wins per game, good enough for 166 total for the season. Ferguson became Liberty's all-time leader in draw controls and has 272 to date.
Going into the season, Liberty's record for draw controls in a game was 13. Ferguson met or exceeded that mark in five instances: Feb. 18 vs. Richmond (13), March 23 vs. Winthrop (17), April 8. vs Queens (16), April 22 vs. Lindenwood (18) and April 29 vs. Delaware State (15).
Ferguson made a position change to attacker this spring, where she was able to affect the game in various ways. The senior has tallied 31 goals (third on team), eight assists (sixth on team) and 39 points (fourth on team). Ferguson also notched 25 ground balls (fourth on team) and 19 caused turnovers (third on team) in 17 regular season contests. Ferguson earned two ASUN Defensive Player of the Week honors (March 21 and 28) and one ASUN Player of the Week accolade (Feb. 28) during the regular season.
Taylor Gallarello (First Team)
This is Gallarello's first ASUN postseason honor in her first season starting for the Lady Flames. The goalkeeper received the ASUN Defensive Player of the Week award on April 4 after a 14-save performance in a victory over No. 21 Jacksonville (April 1), Liberty's first-ever win over a ranked team. The Center Moriches, N.Y. native has appeared in 14 games and holds a 10-1 record (7-0 ASUN) while starting 10 contests.
The sophomore has a 10.16 goals-against-average and 61 saves over 14 total appearances along with 18 ground balls and three caused turnovers. Gallarello is the fourth Liberty goalkeeper to achieve at least 10 wins in a season.
Cami Merkel (Second Team, All-Academic)
This is Merkel's first ASUN All-Conference second-team honor and first All-Academic team honor. Merkel received recognition on the All-Freshman team in 2022. The sophomore led the squad in goals (36), shots (85), points (51) and shared the team lead in assists (15) in 16 regular season games. Merkel is maintaining a 3.67 GPA and is pursuing a bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences
The attacker matched a career high with six points (3 g, 3 a) in Liberty's 20-5 win over Delaware State, giving the Lady Flames the outright ASUN regular season crown. Merkel notched six points with three goals and three assists in three instances this season against Pitt (March 14), Kennesaw State (April 20) and Delaware State (April 29).
Mikayla Coghill (Second Team)
This is Coghill's second postseason honor after being named to the ASUN All-Conference second team in 2022. The defender from Fredericksburg, Va., collected 26 ground balls (fifth on team) and 17 caused turnovers (tied for fourth on team) while starting all 17 games as a defender.
Coghill has 94 career ground balls and need six more to become the 15th player in program history to reach the century mark. The senior notched multiple ground balls eight times and two or more caused turnovers on four occasions. Coghill's best game of the season came against No. 11 Duke when she tallied five caused turnovers and four ground balls.
Tori Banks (Second Team, All-Academic)
This is Banks' first ASUN All-Conference team. In 2021, the midfielder received ASUN All-Freshman team recognition. Banks has enjoyed a career year with 20 goals, four assists, 24 points, 20 ground balls, 14 draw controls and 14 caused turnovers. It is the first 20-goal season in her career.
Banks recorded 13 goals, three assists, 16 points, 10 ground balls in seven conference games. The junior achieved multiple goals in eight games, including two or more goals in the final four regular season games. The midfielder from Worthington, Ohio has played in all 17 games this spring, recording at least three points across four games.
Katie Colavito (All-Freshman)
The freshman out of Wake Forest, N.C., was voted to the All-Freshman team unanimously. She led all Liberty freshmen in goals (11), assists (3), points (14), ground balls (11, tied) and draw controls (8). The midfielder recorded her first career hat trick in a four-goal game at Delaware State, last Saturday in the regular season finale. Colavito notched three games with two or more goals on the season and had a career-best three ground balls in a win over Stetson (April 15).
Jenna Burrow (All-Freshman)
Burrow was selected to the All-Freshman team unanimously. She finished the season second among Liberty rookies in goals (three) along with an assist for four points The freshman from Cumming, Ga., gathered 11 ground balls (tied for most by a freshman on team), five draw controls and four caused turnovers.
Andrea Colavito (All-Academic)
This is Colavito's third straight ASUN All-Academic Team honor. The midfielder from Wake Forest, N.C. is the first player in program history to be a three-time ASUN All-Academic team member. The senior is maintaining a 3.93 GPA and will be earning a graduate certificate in nutrition. She previously graduated with a bachelor's degree in public health: health promotion last year.
The midfielder has tallied 13 goals and four assists along with 13 ground balls, nine draw controls and 12 caused turnovers (fifth on team) in 17 appearances this spring.
