CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Sophomore forward Natalie Kucowski was voted as the Patriot League's Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first Leopard in program history to receive the honor.
 
Kucowski was also recognized with an All-Patriot League Second-Team selection and named a member of the conference's All-Defensive Team.
 
This season, Kucowski led the Patriot League in blocked shots and blocked shots per game with 69 rejections and 2.4 a contest. Those figures rank 23^rd and 26^th in the nation, respectively.
 
She posted two games with six blocks, her career high, and 18 multi-block games, going just one contest without a rejection. Kucowski also had 12 multi-steal games, setting her career-high with seven against Holy Cross.
 
Kucowski had 42 steals in 2018-19, tied for eighth-most in the conference, and averaged 1.4 an outing. She also ranks 17^th in the nation with 7.7 defensive rebounds per game.
 
Along with her defensive abilities, the Philadelphia native averages 14.5 points per game to rank fourth in the Patriot League and 11.2 rebounds per game to place second. She broke the Lafayette single-season rebounding record, a mark she set her freshman season with 309 boards, sitting at 326 through the regular season.
 
Kucowski is also the Leopards' leader in assists at 2.9 a game, ranking inside the top-10 in the conference. She is just 1-of-3 players in the league to average a double-double.
 
Lafayette will travel to Army for the first round of the Patriot League Tournament on Saturday with tip-off set for 1 p.m. at Christl Arena in West Point, New York.
 
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