Oct. 20, 2011

Lacrosse Magazine Best of 2011 Voting (Best Player, Coach and Performance)

Lacrosse Magazine Best of 2011 Voting (Best Game)

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern has been nominated in four categories for Lacrosse Magazine's Best of 2011 awards -- the most nominations of any single team -- and needs your support in order to win the online fan vote.

The results of the vote will be published in the December issue of Lacrosse Magazine alongside the staff writers' picks. Voting runs through 2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27.

Among the nominees are 2011 Tewaaraton Trophy winner Shannon Smith (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon), who is up for Women's Player of the Year as well as Women's Performance of the Year, the latter of which spotlights Smith's four-goal game against No. 3 North Carolina in the NCAA semifinals. Smith scored the game-winner in an 11-10 Wildcat victory, the same goal on which she set a program record for goals in a season with 82.

That Northwestern victory, which saw the 'Cats stave off UNC's rally from a three-goal deficit, also is nominated for Best Game of the Year.

Smith is joined in the Best Women's Performance category by her teammate Kerri Harrington (Westwood, Mass./Westwood), who is being recognized for her defensive efforts against Maryland in the 2011 NCAA championship game. The then-freshman Harrington made her first career start on the sport's biggest stage and responded by holding Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Sarah Mollison to two shots and zero points, the first time in 67 games Mollison was kept off the scoresheet.

Head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, the 2011 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Coach of the Year, is up for Best Women's Coach for leading NU to its sixth national title in seven years. The Wildcats responded to consecutive midseason losses by winning the last nine games of the year, including two one-goal wins on championship weekend.

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