Three Women's Lacrosse Players Earn All-Ivy Honors for 2015

PRINCETON, N.J. – Three members of the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team earned All-Ivy League honors for the 2015 season, the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon.

Junior Jaclyn Leto was tabbed on the First Team, while senior Frances Bird earned Second Team recognition and classmate Sarah Byrne was named an Honorable Mention player.

For the second straight season, Leto (left) finds herself on the Ivy League's top individual squad after also earning first-team honors as a sophomore last spring. This year, Leto continued her upward trajectory, leading the team in goals (43), assists (4) and points (47) in 2015.

The Chatham, New Jersey, native began the season with a career-high seven goals in a game at UConn. She would build on that performance by finishing the season with eight games of three or more goals, while scoring at least twice in 13-of-14 contests. Additionally, she finished second on the team in draw controls (38) and third in ground balls (20) and caused turnovers (10).

No other player in the Ivy League was as dangerous on the 8-meter arc as Leto was this season. She was 22-of-39 on the free-position shot, scoring 13 more times on the play than the next best player in the Ancient Eight, a big reason for her leading the league in goals per game (3.07).

Leto also became the 32nd player in program history to go over 100 points in her career, reaching the figure against Harvard on April 1. As it stands through three seasons, Leto now has 117 points and 98 goals, the latter of which ranks 17th all-time at Dartmouth.

For her part in being one of the Big Green's most reliable players all season, Bird (right) was tabbed to the second team, earning an annual Ivy League honor for the first time in her career. The first solo captain for Dartmouth in 23 seasons, the Summit, New Jersey, native was critical to the success of the team's defense, frequently marking the opposition's top offensive player and oftentimes holding them scoreless over 60 minutes of action.

Bird posted a new high with seven goals this season, while tying her season-best output with nine points. Her 25 draw controls this season are two and a half times more than her prior best mark, while her 15 caused turnovers also tied a previous career high. Bird finished first on the team in caused turnovers, second in ground balls (23) and third in draw controls.

The eight Ivy League head coaches also did not overlook the contributions of Byrne (left) in the Dartmouth midfield, tabbing her with Honorable Mention recognition. The West Hartford, Connecticut, native finished second on the team in goals (21), assists (3) and points (24), wrapping up her career with 78 tallies and 90 total points.

Byrne's 46 draw controls led the Big Green in 2015, one off her career high set last season. Those 46 draws ranked fourth in the Ivy League, while her 24 in league games was the second-highest figure among all Ivy players this season. Twice this season, she had nine draws in an outing to tie the program's single-game record. Her 109 career DCs rank fourth in the program's 43-year history.

Penn's Tory Bensen (Attacker of the Year) and Meg Markham (Defender of the Year) along with Princeton's Erin Slifer (Midfielder of the Year) and Chris Sailer (Coach of the Year) were the season's big individual winners as announced Wednesday.

ATTACKER OF THE YEAR
Tory Bensen, Penn (Sr., A – Darien, Conn.)

MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR
*Erin Slifer, Princeton (Sr., M – Mt. Airy, Md.)

DEFENDER OF THE YEAR
Meg Markham, Penn (Sr., D – Manhasset, N.Y.)

COACH OF THE YEAR
Chris Sailer, Princeton

FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY
*Tory Bensen, Penn (Sr., A – Darien, Conn.)
*Olivia Hompe, Princeton (So., A – New Canaan, Conn.)
Jaclyn Leto, Dartmouth (Jr., A – Chatham, N.J.)
Marisa Romeo, Harvard (So., A – Syracuse, N.Y.)
*Lindsay Toppe, Cornell (Sr., A – Bedford, N.Y.)
*Amie Dickson, Cornell (So., M – Greenwich, Conn.)
*Erin Slifer, Princeton (Sr., M – Mt. Airy, Md.)
Audrey Todd, Harvard (Jr., M – Baltimore)
Liz Bannantine, Princeton (Jr., D – Baltimore)
Emma Ford, Harvard (So., D – Skaneateles, N.Y.)
Meg Markham, Penn (Sr., D – Manhasset, N.Y.)
*Lucy Ferguson, Penn (Sr., G – Montclair, N.J.)

SECOND-TEAM ALL-IVY^
Nina Corcoran, Penn (Jr., A – Point Lookout, N.Y.)
Kerri Fleishhacker, Yale (Sr., A – Manhasset, N.Y.)
Caroline Joy, Columbia (So., A – Baltimore)
Erin McMunn, Princeton (Sr., A – Westminster, Md.)
Emily Tripodi, Cornell (Jr., A – Syracuse, N.Y.)
Frances Bird, Dartmouth (Sr., M – Summit, N.J.)
Anna Doherty, Princeton (So., M – Bernardsville, N.J.)
Christina Doherty, Yale (Sr., M – Bernardsville, N.J.)
Julia Glynn, Harvard (Fr., M – Manhasset, N.Y.)
Sarah Hefner, Cornell (Sr., M – Bel Air, Md.)
Taylor Quinn, Columbia (So., M – Radnor, Pa.)
Lely DeSimone, Penn (Jr., M – Airmont, N.Y.)
Alyssa Dibona, Brown (Sr., D – Media, Pa.)
Tayt Foussadier, Penn (Sr., D – Turnersville, N.J.)
Claire MacManus, Cornell (Sr., D – Rosemont, Pa.)
Victoria Moore, Yale (So., D – Concord, Mass.)
Kelsey Gedin, Columbia (Fr., G – Kinsale, Va.)

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-IVY
Jane Gion, Brown (Sr., A – Northfield, Ill.)
Sarah Byrne, Dartmouth (Sr., M – West Hartford, Conn.)
Tory Waldstein, Harvard (Jr., D – Needham, Mass.)
Erin Mullins, Yale (Sr., G – Garden City, N.Y.)

*-unanimous selection
^-second team expanded to 17 due to ties in the voting

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