Dartmouth Alums Olsen and Wills Tabbed to US National Team

BALTIMORE - Former Dartmouth lacrosse stars Colleen Olsen '10 and Devon Wills '06 have been named to the 2010-11 US Women's National Lacrosse team.

Wills remains on the US squad after earning championship game MVP honors at the 2009 FIL World Cup, which the US won with an 8-7 finals victory over rival Australia. Olsen was part of the US National program in 2009-10 as a member of the US Developmental Team.

This year marked the debut of new format for the US National program, selecting one 36-woman team in a break from the traditional format consisting of two 24-woman teams, an Elite Squad and Developmental Squad. Tryouts were held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County this past weekend, July 30 - Aug. 1.

"This was the most competitive tryout I've ever been a part of," said Team USA head coach, Ricky Fried. "We think that this is the best team of 36 players for the style and tempo we want to play. This group will comprise the core of the team which will defend the gold medal in 2013."

Wills is one of 13 members of the 2009 World Cup team to earn a spot on the 2010-11 squad. Olsen and Wills are joined by just one other Ivy League player, Brown's Paris Waterman.

Olsen, a defender, just completed an impressive career for Dartmouth, during which she earned All-Ivy and All-Northeast honors. She was twice named Academic All-Ivy and IWLCA All-Academic and was the 2009 winner of the Dartmouth Athletics Class of 1948 Scholar Athlete Award. As a senior captain Olsen helped Dartmouth rank as high as seventh nationally, ending the season with a scoring defense of 7.93, fifth best in the nation.

During her four years, Olsen started all 57 games she played for the Big Green, tallying 120 ground balls, 90 draw controls and 68 caused turnovers.

Wills enters her eighth year as part of the US National program, having been on the Elite Team since 2007 after four years on the now defunct Developmental Team. Wills was a three time All-America and four-time All-Ivy honoree in goal for Dartmouth, leading the Big Green to back-to-back final four appearances in 2005 and 2006, including a spot in the national championship game as a senior in 2006. Wills served as an assistant coach for Dartmouth for two seasons and is currently an assistant at the University of Denver in her home state of Colorado.

Dartmouth women's lacrosse continues its proud association with the US National team, with a count of 21 former players involved in its history along with head coach Amy Patton. The Big Green returns 22 players and 10 starters to the field in 2010 on its quest for an 11^th Ivy Championship and 12^th NCAA Tournament bid.

The official release from US Lacrosse can be viewed here, with the entire roster listed below:

Athlete                                 Hometown                     Alma Mater
Sarah Albrecht*                      Braintree, MA                   Northwestern '06
Amy Altig                               Millersville, MD                 James Madison '05
Casey Ancarrow                      Jarrettsville, MD                James Madison '13
Kelly Berger                           Columbia, MD                   James Madison '07
Sarah Bullard*                        Needham, MA                   Duke '11
Jillian Byers                            Northport, NY                   Notre Dame '09
Caroline Cryer*                       Denver, CO                      Duke '09
Katrina Dowd                          Yorktown Heights, NY       Northwestern '10
Amber Falcone*                      Westminster, MD              North Carolina '09
Katy Fitzgerald                        North Andover, MA            North Carolina '11
Corrine Gandolfi                      Smithtown, NY                  Hofstra '10
Kim Griffin                              Jarrettsville, MD                James Madison '09
Kathleen Hertsch                     Westminster, MD              Hofstra '11
Megan Huether*                     Lutherville, MD                 Duke '06
Kristin Igoe                             Framingham, MA               Boston College '11
Ashby Kaestner                       Trappe, MD                      Georgetown '10
Alyssa Kildare                         Massapequa Park, NY        Johns Hopkins '12
Kristen Kjellman*                    Westwood, MA                  Northwestern '07
Erica LaGrow*                        Skanateales, NY                North Carolina '08
Kendall McBrearty                   Alexandria, VA                  Virginia '08
Caitlyn McFadden*                  Phoenix, MD                     Maryland '10
Lindsey Munday*                    Chicago, IL                       Northwestern '06
Colleen Olsen                          Avon, CT                          Dartmouth '10
Brittany Poist                          Hampstead, MD                Maryland '11
Mallory Poole                          Corning, NY                      C. W. Post '08
Katie Rowan*                         Delmar, NY                      Syracuse '09
Jennifer Russell                       Andover, MA                     North Carolina '10
Lauren Schmidt                       Bay Shore, NY                  Stanford '11
Katie Schwarzmann                 Sykesville, MD                  Maryland '13
Lauren Schwarzmann              Sykesville, MD                  Johns Hopkins '08
Danielle Spencer                     Rochester, NY                   Northwestern '10
Michelle Tumolo                      Mullica Hill, NJ                  Syracuse '13
Acacia Walker*                       Severna Park, MD             Maryland '05
Paris Waterman                      Newark, NJ                      Brown '11
Devon Wills*                          Denver, CO                      Dartmouth '06
Laura Zimmerman                   Syracuse, NY                    North Carolina '12

*Member of 2009 World Cup Team

Schedules