Women's Lacrosse: Team and individuals earn Academic awards

After their 15th straight NCAC tournament appearance last spring, the Big Red women’s lacrosse team still has a lot to celebrate.  Recently, the team was tabbed by the IWLCA (Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association) as one of 62 institutions in Division III to earn Academic Squad honors.  

Teams that have a collective GPA of 3.0 or greater earn the distinction of being an Academic Squad.  Denison was one of four NCAC schools to be named to the exclusive Academic Squad list.

The IWLCA recognized 407 student-athletes at 152 institutions for their excellence in the classroom as well.  The individual nominees must have attained at least junior standing academically and have a GPA of at least 3.5 or fall within the top ten percent of their team.   

Headlining the list for the Big Red were senior communications major and political science minor Katie Kubasta and junior economics major Megan Lafferty.

Kubasta, a 2009 graduate of Denison University, was the anchor for the Big Red defense last spring.  The Medina, Ohio native started all 14 games en route to being named the NCAC Defensive Player of the Year.  She earned first team all-conference honors as well as all-West Region honors.  A four year contributor for the Big Red, Kubasta finished her career at Denison seventh on the all-time ground balls list (105) and caused turnovers (32) lists.

In her junior campaign, Lafferty played in 13 games on attack for the Big Red.  The Wilmette, Illinois native netted four goals and dished out one helper.  She recorded her first multi-goal game at Oberlin on April 22.