Five Bridgewater State Women's Lacrosse Players Nab NEWLA Awards

NEWLA All-Conference Team

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. --- Bridgewater State Shannon Manning (Framingham, MA) has been selected as this year’s New England Women’s Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) Player of the Year while senior Adrienne Berkland (Sharon, MA) has been named the Defensive Player of the Year, in voting conducted by the league's coaches as announced by league publicist Robb Modica.

Freshman standout Jenny Jones (Framingham, MA) was also tabbed as the Rookie of the Year while senior Alison Gugliotta (Norwood, MA) takes home honors as the Scholor-Athlete of the Year.

Manning, Berkland and sophomore Katie DeMaio (Port Jefferson Station, NY) highlighted the NEWLA All-Conference First Team while Jones and senior Lauryn Serratore (Norwood, MA) were garnered with Second Team honors.

Manning, DeMaio, and Jones sparked an offense that currently leads the NCAA Division III in goals per game (19.65), ranks third overall in points (505) and fourth in scoring margin (+10.11 goals per game). The Bears have already shattered their single-season team records for goals, assists, points, and draw controls.

Bridgewater State is currently 13-4 and with perfect 7-0 record in alliance play. After a 22-8 win over Westfield State in the NEWLA Tournament semifinals, the top-seeded Bears will take on Castleton State College in the conference championship game on Saturday.  The BSC record for wins in a season is 14 and with a win in the tournament title game, the Bears could tie the mark. The single-season mark for games played in a season is 19, set back in 2001.

Earlier this season, Bridgewater State set NCAA Division III single-game records for assists (24) and points (50) in a 26-3 win over Becker College.

As a sophomore, Manning currently leads the NEWLA in points (88), points per game (5.5), assists (44) and assists per game (2.75). On defense as a midfielder, Manning is fourth on the team in draw controls with 57 and tied for second in caused turnovers (16).

Manning is currently tied for ninth in points and assists nationally while she is tied 11th in assists per game and sits in 12th place in points per game.

Manning set the Bears' single-season assist record as she currently has 48 assists on the season.  She broke Paula Habel's 2002 mark of 47 assists.  Manning also needs just five points to eclipse Habel's single-season scoring mark of 99 points.  Her 95 points are the second highest total in BSC women's lacrosse history.

In her outstanding career Manning has 154 points (95 goals, 59 assists) in just two seasons at Bridgewater State. She moved past Stacie Dufor (151 points) into fifth place among the Bears all-time scoring leaders. She is also tied for second place along with with Ann Silvia (1997-2000) among BSC’s all-time assist leaders.

Berkland and Serratore both emerged as top defensive players in the NEWLA this season. Both anchored a defense that leads the NCAA in draw controls per game as the unit is currently averaging 18.76 in 17 games this season.

Berkland has registered an alliance best 32 caused turnovers to go along with a team high 43 ground balls as well as 23 draw controls. Serratore set the BSC single-season record for draw controls as she leads the NEWLA with 74.  She also has 34 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers while managing to also score 38 goals this season.

Serratore is ranked 23rd in the NCAA in draw controls per game while Berkland is ranked 33rd in caused turnovers per game.

Jones had a sensational rookie campaign as she leads the NEWLA with 55 goals.  She broke Stacie Dufor and Laura Swart's BSC rookie record of 53 goals set in 2000. Jones ranks third in the alliance in goals per game, fourth in points and seventh in points per game.

This season Gugliotta has registered 35 goals and 18 assists this season for a total of 53 points, which is fifth highest total on the team. Gugliotta carries an overall GPA of 3.8 and she will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry.

DeMaio had a breakout season tallying 54 markers while dishing out 20 assists for a total of 74 points. DeMaio ranks second in the NEWLA in total points and third in goals.

Release Written by Steven M. Miller, Jr --- Sports Information Correspondent