Pizzo And Urey Highlight Big South Postseason Awards
5/4/2023 3:46:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
Mercer had six players earn postseason recognition
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The Bears captured three individual awards along with the six All-Conference players. The Bears finished the regular season 15-2 and went undefeated in Big South play (9-0) on its way to winning the 2023 Big South regular season championship.
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Emma Pizzo, Shannon Urey and head coach Samantha Eustace highlighted the postseason awards as Pizzo was named Big South Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Urey was named Big South Offensive Player of the Year and coach Eustace was named Big South Coach of the Year.
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Four Mercer players were named First Team All-Big South. Those players were Pizzo, Urey, Kayla Soltys, and Kate Vanderlinde.
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Maddi Koury was named to the All-Big South Second Team and Lyndsey Lewis was named All-Big South Honorable Mention.
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Pizzo was named First Team All-Conference for the third consecutive season along with Big South Co-Defensive Player of the Year. In the regular season, she led Mercer in ground balls (45) and caused turnovers (39). Her 39 caused turnovers also led the Big South and ranked 11th in the country. She also finished fourth on the team with 45 draw controls. She was also named Big South Defensive Player of the Week this season.
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Urey had a breakout season for the Bears on her way to earning First Team All-Conference recognition and being named the Big South Offensive Player of the Year. She scored a career-high 72 goals during the regular season, setting a career-high which led the Big South and was the second most goals scored in Division I lacrosse this season. She also had seven assists to give her 79 points on the year.
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Urey scored a career-high and Mercer single-game goal record 11 goals against Wofford. It currently stands as the most goals scored by any Division I women's lacrosse player in a game this season.
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Urey has scored in 16 of the 17 games played this season and has scored at least three goals in 14 games this year.
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She averaged 7.0 shots per game, tied for the most in the Big South. She averaged 6.18 shots on goal per game which led the Big South and ranked fourth in the country. Urey was an efficient scorer throughout the season, as she had a .605 shot percentage which ranked top 10 in the country. She was also named Big South Offensive Player of the Week twice this season.
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Soltys earned her first career First Team All-Conference recognition after being named Second Team All-Conference last year.Â
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After Erin Degnan's injury midway through conference play, Soltys became Mercer's primary player in the draw control circle. Soltys finished with the most draw controls on the team with 83 which averages to 4.88 draw controls per game. She led the Big South in draw controls.
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Along with her value to the team in draw controls, Soltys contributed offensively with 16 goals and five assists for 21 points.
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Vanderlinde earned her first career First Team All-Conference recognition. Vanderlinde came up big for the Bears in key moments in games such as the regular season finale at Campbell when she had a career-high 13 saves.
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For the season, Vanderlinde had an 8.93 goals against average which led the Big South and ranked 10th in the country. She had a .456 save percentage which was second best in the Big South. Vanderlinde was named Big South Defensive Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks to conclude the regular season.
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Koury was named to the All-Conference Second Team for the second time in her career. She finished the season with 28 goals and 31 assists for 59 points. She finished in the top three on the team in goals, assists, and points. Her 31 assists led the team and tied for third most in the Big South.Â
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Koury scored at least one goal in 13 of the 17 games this season. She had a career-high five goals in the win over Manhattan. She also had 26 ground balls, third most on the team and six caused turnovers. She was also named Big South Offensive Player of the Week this season.
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Lewis was named All-Big South Honorable Mention this year, her first All-Conference recognition of her career. During the regular season, Lewis had 22 goals and five assists for 27 points. She was one of six Mercer players to score 20+ goals this season.
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She also had 47 draw controls which were second most on the team, including recently earning her 100th career draw control against Presbyterian. Lewis had 15 caused turnovers which was fourth most on the team.
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Head coach Samantha Eustace was named Big South Coach of the Year after guiding Mercer to its best regular season record in program history at 15-2 and a Big South regular season championship.Â
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Mercer went undefeated in conference play and also picked up a monumental win in the season opener as the Bears went on the road and defeated Virginia Tech 11-8. It was the first win over an ACC opponent in program history. The Bears finished the regular season perfect on the road at 8-0.
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2023 Big South Women's Lacrosse All-Conference Teams
FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
ATT – Shannon Urey, Sr., Mercer
ATT – Meagan Beal, Sr., Furman
ATT – Rasa Welsh, Jr., Campbell
MF – Sam Bischoff, Jr., Campbell
MF – Hannah Dintino, Sr., Furman
MF – Kayla Soltys, Sr., Mercer
D – Rebekah Taylor, Sr., Campbell
D – Emma Pizzo, Gr., Mercer
D – Katelyn Sousa, Jr., Furman
GK – Kate Vanderlinde, Sr., Mercer
AL – Mena Loescher, ATT, Gr., High Point
AL – Chandler Stewart, D, Sr., Campbell
AL – Grace Briggs, D, Sr., Gardner-Webb
SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
ATT – Bria Foley, Soph., Gardner-Webb
ATT – Anna Roser, Soph., Furman
ATT – Maddi Koury, Jr., Mercer
MF – Willow Hammond, Soph., Presbyterian
MF – Lauren Cerretani, Sr., Longwood
MF – Margaret Gleason, Sr., Radford
D – Jenna Kraft, Gr., High Point
D – Heather Lobas, Gr., Gardner-Webb
D – Julia Koenig, Jr., Longwood
GK – Olivia Hunter, Jr., Radford
AL – Emma Genovese, MF, Gr., High Point
AL – Leah Hurley, MF, Sr., Wofford
AL – Kay Rosselli, MF, Jr., High Point
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Lyndsey Lewis, MF, Sr., Mercer
Molly Dankowski, MF, Gr., Winthrop
Pia Cavallaro, ATT, Jr., High Point
Sophia Passa, ATT, Fr., Longwood
Ava Scudillo, D, Sr., High Point (tie)
Lily Barger, D, Fr., Wofford (tie)
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Sam Bischoff, Campbell
Hannah Dintino, Furman
Brittany Sherrod, Gardner-Webb
Caitlyn Baehr, High Point
Harper Melton, Longwood
Shannon Urey, Mercer
Kendall Goldfarb, Presbyterian
Ashlyn Grogan, Radford
Maddy Hodgson, Winthrop
Leah Hurley, Wofford
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Shannon Urey, ATT, Mercer
MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR
Sam Bischoff, Campbell
CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Rebekah Taylor, D, Campbell
Emma Pizzo, D, Mercer
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Sophia Passa, ATT, Longwood
COACH OF THE YEAR
Samantha Eustace, Mercer
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Kendall Goldfarb, Presbyterian
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