Raffaele and Kallis Claim Major Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Awards
4/23/2003 8:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 23, 2003
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell seniors Suzanne Raffaele (Springfield, Pa./Archmere Academy) and Nicole Kallis (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) were the recipients of the Patriot League's Women's Lacrosse Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, as announced by the conference office on Wednesday, April 23. In addition, junior Amy Hasler (Birmingham, Mich./Seaholm) joined the duo on the All-Patriot League team.
Raffaele earns Bucknell's first-ever Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year Award, just three years after she was just the school's second PL Rookie of the Year. This season, the attack has scored 35 goals, her fourth-straight season with at least 30 scores. Raffaele has recorded seven hat tricks on the year, including three consecutive and five in the last six games. She has only been held without a point once in 14 games this season, and has tallied multiple goals on 10 occasions. Raffaele was also a member of the All-League First Team for the second-straight year.
In four years with the Bison, Raffaele has accumulated 139 career goals, just two shy of a new Bucknell career record. In addition, she is now in second place on the Bucknell career points list with 166, needing just six more to leave the school with that record as well.
 Senior Nicole Kallis became just the second Bison to win the PL Defensive Player of the Year Award.  |
|
Kallis receives the Defensive Player of the Year Award, joining 1995 graduate Laura Hagen as the only other Bison to the league's top defensive award, in addition to earning her first-ever nod on the All-League First Team. Kallis has been a member of the second team her first three seasons. This year, she is completing her fourth year as a starter in goal for Bucknell. The netminder has maintained a national ranking in both save percentage and goals against average for nearly the entire season, including her most recent ranking of sixth in save accuracy (.569) and 17th in GAA (8.29). Kallis leads the conference in those two categories, as well as saves per game (10.85).
With 683 career saves, Kallis ranks second in the Bucknell all-time annals and fifth on the Patriot League list.
Hasler makes her first appearance on the all-league team, earning a spot on the second team. The junior scored 22 goals during the regular-season, second-best on the team. Her seven assists match her career-high from last year. Hasler has scored in all but one game this season, including two games with three or more goals.
Bucknell finished the regular season at 7-7 and went 3-3 in Patriot League play, earning the school's first-ever berth into the Patriot League Championship Tournament. The Bison, seeded-third, will take on second-seeded Colgate in the opening round at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 26. The tournament is being held at top-seeded American in Washington, D.C.