April 10, 2000

EASTON, Pa. - The Patriot League announced today that sophomore Heather McClelland (Springfield, Va./Kimball Union Academy) and senior Erin Carney (Schwenskville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) have been named Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectfully, for the week ending April 9, 2000.

McClelland earned the award for a stellar offensive performance last week. The sophomore attacker, who led the Leopards in scoring last season with 55 points, totalled 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points in three games. Her crown jewel of the week was a five-goal, four-assist performance in a 13-5 win over league foe Bucknell on Saturday. All nine points came in the first half as the Leopards built an 11-1 half-time lead en route to their second league win.

McClelland is Lafayette's top scorer, accumulating 24 goals and 13 assists for the 4-4 Leopards. She scored four goals and three assists in a 13-6 win over St. Joseph's earlier this week, and led Lafayette at Temple with a goal and an assist. McClelland adds this award, her first of the season, to a Player of the Week award last season, as well as being named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year for 1999.

Carney led a stingy Leopard defense that allowed just 19 goals in three games last week. She played nearly every minute, picking up 17 ground balls while causing seven turnovers. Carney's aggressive style of defense helped her amass six fouls, often while covering the opponents top scorer. Her best game of the week was against St. Joseph's, when she picked up 12 ground balls and caused four turnovers in a 13-6 Lafayette win.

The senior defender, named Patriot League First-Team All-League last season, is second on the team with 31 ground balls, and tops with 19 caused turnovers and 18 fouls. The stay-at-home defender, who never played lacrosse until she arrived at Lafayette, has played in 56 career games and has one goal to her credit, in an 18-0 win over Drexel last season. She anchors a defense that allows just 9.71 goals per game on the season, and a stellar 7.0 goals per game in Patriot League play.

Lafayette looks to up its record to 5-4 this afternoon when it faces Fairfield University, beginning at 3:30 p.m., in the first game of a four-game road trip. After a non-league contest against La Salle on Wednesday, the Leopards enter an all-important string of three consecutive league games. The Leopards, preseason favorites to capture the Patriot League crown, look to reclaim that title after losing it to Colgate last season, the first time since 1994, and only the second time since the inception of the league.