July 30, 2012
BALTIMORE - Rising sophomore Tatum Coffey (Toms River, N.J.) of the Penn State women's lacrosse team was among the 36 players selected to the 2012-14 U.S. Women's National Senior Team, US Lacrosse announced Sunday. Coffey, who will turn 19 in August, is Team USA's youngest member.
The 36-player team will serve as the training team pool for the squad that will defend Team USA's 2009 gold medal at the 2013 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Cup, to be held July 11-20, 2013, in Oshawa, Ont. The team was chosen following a three-day tryout that featured more than 80 of the top women's lacrosse players in the country.
In international competition, Coffey was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. National Under-19 Team at the 2011 FIL Under-19 Women's World Championship in Hannover, Germany. In a 14-11 come-from-behind win against Australia in the gold-medal game, Coffey recorded a goal and an assist as she was tabbed the player of the match. She helped lead the U.S. to a perfect 8-0 record.
At Penn State, Coffey, who became the only freshman in the nation to earn IWLCA All-America honors (third team), firmly established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the midfield with a brilliant rookie campaign. A starter in all 19 games, the Second Team All-ALC member tied for second on the team in goals with 34, ranked third in points (40) and led the Nittany Lions in draw controls (53) and caused turnovers (18).
Coffey's impressive postseason award haul also included two Rookie of the Year Awards (WomensLax.com and SynapseSports.com), a Third Team All-America nod (SynapseSports.com) and an All-American Team recognition (WomensLax.com).
The Toms River, N.J., native earned conference and multiple national honors during the regular season and appeared in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" after scoring a combined 11 goals in road wins over Hofstra and Vanderbilt. In 2012, she helped lead the Nittany Lions to the NCAA quarterfinals and a 12-7 record. The 12 wins were the most by a Penn State squad since 2005.
The U.S. Women's National Senior Team will gather for several training events, including Stars & Stripes weekend in California in October and the Champion Challenge in Florida in January, before the final 18-player FIL World Cup roster is announced in February 2013.