Women's lacrosse quartet honored by SCIAC

ORANGE, Calif. – In a year of firsts for the Chapman University women's lacrosse team, more firsts arrived again on Thursday as four Panthers earned All-Conference recognition for the 2013 season. Junior M Victoria Wilkinson and freshman M Kelsey Mackin led the Panthers with All-SCIAC first team recognition. Earning All-SCIAC second team honors were junior M Lauren Mah and senior G Anjali Thota.

After transitioning from club status into its first season as a recognized Division III sport at Chapman and competing member of the SCIAC, the Panthers are set to compete for the conference title on Saturday.

Wilkinson spearheaded the Panthers' offense with experience and strong play as she held a conference leading 3.77 goals per game. Of her 49 goals this season, 25 came in SCIAC competition. She also ranked second amongst conference competitors collecting 4.15 points per game.

Coming off the bench in most games, Mackin impressed in her freshman season as she currently leads the team with 52 goals and 58 total points. Her 2.82 points per SCIAC game ranked ninth in the conference and her 2.59 goals per SCIAC game ranked eighth.

Mah was a heavy contributor on both offense and defense as she collected 22 groundballs, caused eight turnovers, scored 14 goals, and added five assists. She emerged as the team's 'go-to' on draw controls leading the Panthers with 44.

In goal, Thota brought with her the experience of a club national championship and All-League honors into this season and earned recognition as one of the conference's best goalkeepers. The senior collected 122 saves on the year and ranked first in the SCIAC with a .462 save percentage. She also ranked fourth with 7.2 saves per game.

The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was established in 1915. The league is currently comprised of nine private colleges and universities in Southern California: California Institute of Technology, California Lutheran University, Chapman University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, University of La Verne, Occidental College, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, University of Redlands, and Whittier College. The conference recognizes outstanding athletic achievements of its student-athletes on a weekly and annual basis.

2012-13 All-SCIAC Women's Lacrosse Team: http://thesciac.org/sports/wlax/2012-13/releases/all_sciac

by Bogart Avila
Sports Information Intern

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