FOREST, Va. – Guilford College’s Matthew Grosso earned the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s (ODAC) Women’s Lacrosse Coach of the Year Award according to a vote of the league’s head women’s lacrosse coaches. He is the Quakers’ first recipient of any of the ODAC’s major individual women’s lacrosse honors.
Guilford placed a school-record six students on the league’s three all-star squads, including two first-team selections for the first time since 1999. Freshman midfielder Eleanora Keene (Wittman, Md./Gunston Day School) and junior goalie Liza Mettler (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Beaumont School) earned First-Team All-ODAC commendation. Guilford senior midfielder Summer Frazier (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood), sophomore attack E’leyna Garcia (Plantation, Fla./Pine Crest Prep) and senior defender Katie Oliver (Crofton, Md./South River (Anne Arundel C.C.)) were second-team picks. Sophomore attack Lily Colley (Wells, Maine/Wells) received Third-Team All-ODAC honors.
Grosso guided the Quakers to an 11-7 overall record, 7-2 in the league. Both marks set Guilford standards for wins in a season and are among the 18 school records tied or broken this year. The Quakers shared second place in the ODAC’s regular-season standings and reached the league tournament semifinals for the first time since 1992, Guilford’s first year in the conference. The Quakers’ longest tenured and winningest women’s lacrosse coach, Grosso raised his overall record to 56-75 in eight seasons. Including this year’s six honorees, the 1997 George Mason University graduate has coached 20 Guilford students to All-ODAC recognition a combined 31 times.
Keene led Guilford’s freshmen with 31 points on 27 goals and four assists. She ranked fourth among the Quakers’ scoring leaders, but made her mark with a school-record and ODAC-best 128 draw controls. Through games of May 13, Keene stood eighth among NCAA Division III leaders with 7.11 draw controls per game. She more than doubled Luisella Perri’s ’99 former school record of 57 and already ranks fourth among Guilford’s career leaders. Keene picked up a school-record 17 draw controls in her first college game, a 17-16 Quakers’ win at Berry College Feb. 18. The contest marked one of four in which she had at least 10 draw controls. She also scored a career-high five points in the game on four goals and an assist. Keene also scored four times in the Quakers’ Mar. 21 ODAC win over Sweet Briar College.
Mettler is Guilford’s first First-Team All-ODAC goalie since Sarah Strohl ’92 in 1992. Mettler played every minute of the team’s school-record 18 games and registered 186 saves, which stands 10th nationally and eighth in school history. Her 11.88 goals against average ranks third in the ODAC and ninth all-time at Guilford. She posted a .464 saves percentage, the 50th-best figure in the land and second-highest mark in the league. Mettler’s career-high 19 saves in the Quakers’ ODAC win at Randolph-Macon College Apr. 14 stand fourth all-time at Guilford and marked one of her 12 games with 10 or more stops. She recorded the sixth shutout in school history with three saves in a 12-0 ODAC win over Hollins University Apr. 4. The accomplishment helped her win the Apr. 10 Synapse Sports NCAA Division III Defensive Player of the Week Award. An honorable mention All-ODAC pick in 2011, Mettler ranks fourth in school history with 365 career saves in 41 games.
Frazier netted a career-high 57 goals to tie the Guilford standards for goals in a season and career (146). She stood third in the ODAC in goals and fifth with 3.35 tallies per contest. Her 60 points in 17 games this year were third-highest on the team, 13th in the league and seventh in school history. Frazier had a goal in all but one game and enjoyed 14 contests with two or more tallies. She hit for a career-high six scores in Guilford’s 12-10 ODAC Tournament victory over Virginia Wesleyan College, including both overtime goals. Frazier scored five times in league wins over Bridgewater College, Lynchburg College, Randolph-Macon and crosstown-rival Greensboro College.
Frazier concludes her stellar career as Guilford’s leader in goals and draw controls (184). She leaves ranked fifth in school history with 166 points in 65 games. Her 146 goals tied the school standard set by Jen Harrison ’91 and her 184 draws topped the former mark held by Carrie Ernst ’10. Frazier was also a second-team all-conference pick in 2011 and enjoyed a streak of 15 straight games with at least one goal, the third-longest skein in school history.
Garcia, a 2011 honorable mention all-league pick, set the Guilford standard with 80 points on a school-record 57 goals and 23 assists, third on the Quakers’ all-time season list. She stands 65th among NCAA Division III scoring leaders and fourth in the ODAC. Her 4.44 points per game average is the league’s fifth-highest figure and her 23 assists stand seventh. Garcia dent the twine in each of Guilford’s 18 games, extending her goal-scoring streak to a school-record 35 games. She won the league’s first Player of the Week Award this year on Feb. 20.
Garcia had two contests with eight points this season, ninth-best in school history. Garcia scored a career-high six goals and two assists in the Apr. 21 win over Randolph College and had four goals and four assists in a Mar. 17 league win at Bridgewater. After two seasons, Garcia ranks among Guilford’s career leaders in points (144, 9th), goals (102, 10th) and assists (42, 6th).
Oliver, like Frazier, landed Second Team All-ODAC honors for the second straight season. She was also selected to play in the 2012 Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association/Under Armour North/South Senior All-Star Game June 16 in Downingtown, Pa. Oliver ranked second on the team with 46 ground balls and fourth with 18 caused turnovers. She also contributed a goal and an assist in 18 games and ranked 14th in the ODAC with 2.5 ground balls per game. Her season-high seven pickups and three caused turnovers sparked the Quakers to a 15-11 ODAC win over Sweet Briar. Oliver picked up five ground balls and caused a turnover in Guilford’s ODAC Tournament win over Virginia Wesleyan. She concluded her two-year Guilford tenure with 105 ground balls and 43 caused turnovers in 34 contests. Oliver ranks 10th among the Quakers’ all-time leaders in caused turnovers.
Colley enjoyed one of the most prolific seasons in school history. In her first year after transferring from Clark University where she played basketball, but not lacrosse, the sophomore scored 78 points on 48 goals and a school-record 30 assists. Her 78 points stand second only to Garcia’s 80 in school history and fifth in the league. Colley’s 30 assists rank 41st nationally and fourth in the league. She also caused 25 turnovers this season, which ranked second on the team and fourth all-time at Guilford. Colley scored 10 points (6 goals, 4 assists), the second-highest single-game total in school history, in the Quakers’ win over Randolph. Her five assists in a March 31 loss at Roanoke College stand third all-time at Guilford. She was named ODAC Player of the Week Mar. 27.
Grosso expects 12 letter winners back for the 2013 season, including Keene, Garcia and Colley.