July 26, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's lacrosse squad became one of 92 Division I women's lacrosse programs to be named an Academic Honor Squad by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) earlier this week.
This marks the second consecutive season the Nittany Lions have received this honor, which is given to any team who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher for the 2016-17 academic year.
Penn State also landed six student-athletes on the IWLCA Division I Academic Honor Roll for being at least a junior in the classroom and having a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. Taylor Bleistein, Madison Day, Katie O'Donnell, Natalie Schmitt, Abby Smucker and Shelby Wells each achieved this honor.
Those six honorees were part of 388 student-athletes from 99 different institutions across all three divisions who were recognized. Bleistein, Day, O'Donnell, Smucker and Wells also joined Kayla Brisolari, Katie Garvey, Lucy Haubold and Delaney Muldoon earlier this month as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for having at least a 3.7 GPA this past academic year.
PSU placed 17 members on the 2016-17 Spring Academic All-Big Ten Squad for having a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
On the field, Penn State concluded one of the most successful seasons in program history reaching the NCAA National Semifinals for the second consecutive season and the 11th time overall. However, the Nittany Lions fell to eventual National Champion Maryland in the semifinals. PSU finished the year with an overall record of 17-4 and a No. 3 ranking in the final IWLCA National Poll. The 17 wins tie for the second most in a single-season in program history and were the most since 1989.
FULL LIST OF 2017 DIVISION I ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL
FULL LIST OF 2017 ACADEMIC HONOR SQUADS