Nov. 4, 2000

St. Louis, Mo. - Lyons, Stai and Rolfe Earn Northern Pacific Field Hockey Player of the Month Honors

California's Stephanie Lyons, Stanford's Melissa Stai and Southwest Missouri State's Abigail Rolfe have been named the NorPac Conference Players of the Month for October.

A sophomore from San Diego, Calif., Lyons earned the NorPac Offensive Player of the Month as she scored three goals and two assists for conference-leading Cal. Lyons is tied for third on the team in scoring. She is only one of five players to start every game to date for Cal. Along with Nora Feddersen, she has stabilized the midfield and helped lead the Golden Bears to their current success this season.

A junior from San Diego, Calif., Stanford's Stai was named the NorPac Defensive Player of the Month. She is a steady defender who has been successful in shutting down the other teams' midfield. As a sweeper, she has been instrumental in stopping break-aways and has made several defensive saves on the post.

A freshman from St. Louis, Mo., Rolfe earned the NorPac Rookie of the Month award. The SMS midfielder has accounted for half of the Bears' goals during the past month. She tallied four goals on 10 shots in October. She is SMS's leading scorer with 12 points (5G, 2A) and scored her second game-winning goal of the season against West Chester on Oct. 8. Rolfe helped lead the Bears to a second-place finish in the conference and a 5-1 record in league play.

Northern Pacific Conference Names its 2000 All-Conference Squad

NorPac commissioner Carla Konet announced the selections for the league's All-Conference team after the 2000 NorPac Tournament banquet.

First Team: Amanda Billmyer (Stanford), Stephanie Dixon (SMS), Nora Fedderson (Cal), Sarah Hoehn (Cal), Lea Jaeger (Davidson), Heather Mattingly (Saint Louis), Mollie Reichard (SMS), Michelle Scott (Stanford), Melissa Stai (Stanford), Leanne Tarr (Pacific) and Meredith White (Appalachian St.).

Second Team: Agnes Batemen (Davidson), Monnie Elzy (SMS), Leticia Galyean (Cal), Lauren Hancock (Davidson), Elizabeth Harkins (Cal), Sara Herman (Stanford), Kristi Lau (SMS), Lindsay Lombardo (Saint Louis), Ashley Murin (Pacific), Katie Schulzitski (ASU) and Giovanna Tripiano (Pacific).

Offensive Player of the Year: Lea Jaeger (Morgan Hills, Calif.) led the conference with 31 points. Her 14 goals also were the most by any player in the league this season. Her goals accounted for 28.6 percent of the team's scoring. Jaeger is a senior back from Davidson College.

Defensive Player of the Year: Sarah Hoehn (Fallbrook, Calif.) led the conference in goals against average with a 1.15 mark as a senior goalkeeper for California. Her career GAA is 1.06. She helped the Bears in winning the NorPac regular season with a 5-0 league record.

Rookie of the Year: Nora Freshamn Feddersen (Berlin, Germany) burst on to the college scene recording two goals and 17 shots in her first two games. Feddersen is Cal's leader in shots on goal with 41 and third in scoring with five.

Player of the Year: Michelle Scott (Chicago, Ill.), a four-year starter for Stanford, has been a key to the Cardinal success with her tenaciousness on the field and stick-stopping on penalty corners. Scott, a team captain, also leads Stanford in assists.

Coach of the Year: No. 2 NorPac Tournament seed SMS's Dawn Porter, in just her third year as head coach, was chosen by her fellow coaches as she lead the Bears to a 5-1 league record and 9-10 overall. SMS played just three home games this season with 16 on the road.

Northern Pacific Conference Crowns Stanford as its 2000 Tournament Champion

St. Louis, Mo. - Stanford University defeated the 2000 regular-season NorPac champion California 2-0 to earn the 2000 NorPac Tournament Championship today. Stanford will face Patriot League champion Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., on Tue., Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. Holy Cross defeated Bucknell 4-1 today to earn its league trophy. The winner of the Holy Cross/Stanford match will advance to NCAA tournament play. The Final Four is set for Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.

In the first round of the NorPac Tournament, No. 5 seed Davidson College defeated No. 4 seed Pacific 3-1, No. 3 seed Stanford University defeated No. 6 seed Saint Louis University 7-0 and No. 2 seed Southwest Missouri State University defeated No. 7 seed Appalachian State University 2-0 on Thu., Nov. 2. The No. 1 seed, the University of California, had a bye.

The second round was played on Fri., Nov. 3, with SLU defeating ASU 3-2, Cal defeated Davidson 4-3 while Stanford blanked SMS 1-0.

The semifinals saw Pacific defeat SLU 3-2 after two overtime periods and two penalty stroke sessions in sudden death for fifth place, Davidson defeated SMS 3-2.

Today, at the conclusion of the 2000 NorPac Conference Tournament, league commissioner Carla Konet announced the 2000 All-Tournament Team:

Cal - Nora Federson Davidson - Jessica Barton Elizabeth Harkins Lea Jaeger Stephanie Lyons

SMS - Kristi Lau Stanford - Sara Herman Mollie Reichard Rebecca Shapiro,GK Melissa Stai Michelle Scott, MVP

Radford University Field Hockey Team Set to Join the Northern Pacific Conference for the 2001 Season

Radford University has accepted an invitation to join the Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference and will begin conference play next fall, announced NorPac Commissioner Carla Konet.

Radford University is a member of the Big South Conference, but has been an independent in field hockey. The Highlanders were previously members of the Colonial Athletic Association from 1991 to 1998.

"The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) conference grant that NorPac received in 1998 has been the catalyst behind our membership expansion and development of a conference tournament the past three years," said Konet. "With the addition of Radford, we can now divide the conference more regionally in to East and West divisions and play a double round robin schedule. All eight members will compete in the postseason conference tournament beginning in 2001."

Radford will begin conference play in the 2001-2002 academic year joining Appalachian State, Davidson and SMS in the East while Saint Louis, Stanford, Pacific and California will make up the West.

The NorPac Conference is a single sport conference and held its 2000 tournament in St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 2-4.