May 4, 2010
PHILADELPHIA- A combined effort from two of the newest additions to La Salle's lacrosse program is what made their presence felt all season long; in particular in the month of April. On Tuesday morning the Officie of Athletic Communications selected freshmen Melanie Sarcinello and Lauren McDermott as its Co-Student-Athletes of the Month.
In the season's final month, the Explorers went 3-3 including a trip to the Atlantic 10 Championship Semifinals as the No. 2 seed. Playing a role in helping the Explorers reach their destiny were the two rookie standouts. In the three April victories, either Sarcinello or McDermott provided the game-winning goal. Together, they combined for 18 points, 17 goals, 16 ground balls, 18 controlled draws and three caused turnovers.
In each of the final three games of the regular season, Sarcinello scored the game-tying goal in the final minutes to force overtimes on George Washington and Temple before deadlocking the score late in the game at Massachusetts.
Against St. Joseph's and Temple, Sarcinello provided game-winning goals, including the postseason clincher at Temple. In the game against the Owls, Sarcinello scored three times to tie the game and to put the Explorers on top two different times. Two days later when the team traveled to UMass, Sarcinello was again renowned a hero when she knotted the game at nine with 26 seconds remaining after the Explorers trailed the Minutewomen, 9-6. Earlier this month, she was named La Salle Student-Athlete of the Week back on April 19.
Teammate and classmate Lauren McDermott had a significant hand in La Salle's late season success as well. McDermott racked up four goals in the regular season finale at UMass. With two seconds remaining in the game against the Minutewomen, McDermott scored the game-winning goal that may go down as the greatest in program history. With that goal, the Explorers completed a nine-win season and captured the second seed in the conference tournament. McDermott also moved up the scoring ladder among all-time freshmen scorers, placing fourth among all rookie La Salle lacrosse players with 34 goals.
In the month of April, McDermott led the team with 14 controlled draws. For the week of April 19, McDermott generated attention within the league and on the national level. Following her stellar outing in the final weekend of the regular season, McDermott was tabbed A-10 Rookie of the Week for the third time in 2010 and was also elected WomensLacrosse.com D-I Rookie of the Week.
Those awards came just days before her and Sarcinello were selected to the A-10 All-Rookie Team. In addition, McDermott closed out her rookie campaign also getting named Second Team All-Conference and being honored as the conference's Rookie of the Year, making her the third Explorer all-time to be honed with the recognition.
