May 4, 2015
ROSEMONT, Ill. -
T he Big Ten Tournament champion Nittany Lion women's lacrosse team was twice honored on Monday afternoon as head coach Missy Doherty and Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) were named the Big Ten Coach and Goaltender of the Year, respectively. Both Doherty and Smith were unanimous selections by the Big Ten coaches.
Doherty orchestrated Penn State's first tournament championship in her fifth season at the helm. Personally, Doherty collects her second coach of the year honor (2004 CAA, at Towson), while leading her Lions to their fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. She is the first Nittany Lion head coach to win a conference coach of the year honor.
Doherty has twice led the Nittany Lions to 14-win seasons, including the current 2015 campaign. The 14-win seasons are the first achieved since a 15-5 showing in 1999, when Penn State reached the NCAA Semifinals. The Lions play Johns Hopkins in the NCAA First Round at Virginia on Friday at 4 p.m.
A junior goalie, Smith had a breakout year for the Blue & White in anchoring PSU's defense. Smith's timely saves this past weekend helped Penn State win its ninth game in the past 10 outings. Smith ranked second in the Big Ten in save percentage (.458) and GAA (9.18).
Smith started 17 of the team's 18 games this year, logging 960-plus minutes of action and collecting 124 saves en route to a 14-4 record. All of her season stats were career bests and she was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.
Smith is the third Penn State goalie to claim a conference goalkeeper of the year award following in the footsteps of Lee Tortorelli (2004 ALC) and Dana Cahill (2011 and 2012 ALC).
Maryland's Brooke Griffin, Taylor Cummings and Megan Douty were named attacker, midfielder and defender of the year, respectively, while Northwestern's Selena Lasota was tabbed freshman of the year.