Seven Lasers Earn GNAC All-Conference Honors

NEWTON, Mass. (11/7/17) -- Seven members of the Lasell College field hockey team earned Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) All-Conference honors, as announced by the conference office Tuesday afternoon.

The honors come after Lasell finished their best season in program history with a 16-4 record, advancing to their first ever GNAC Championship before falling 3-0 to Saint Joseph's College of Maine.

Head coach Caitlin Connolly has been selected as the 2017 Coach of the Year, the second time she has received the honor in the last three seasons. Connolly has led the Lasers to a 38-20 record in the last three seasons, including a 12-6 mark in GNAC play.

Senior Denise Landry (New Milford, Conn.) was tabbed as GNAC Goalkeeper of the Year. In her senior campaign Landry recorded 86 saves and held a league-leading .835 save percentage. Landry allowed only 17 goals, and had a conference second-best .99 goals-against average.

Cailin Flannery (Medford, N.J.), Nikki Pignone (Ipswich, Mass.) and Samantha Taylor (Hanover, Mass.) join Julia Franzik (Wallingford, Conn.), Taylor Falco (Hazlet, N.J.) and Landry on the First Team. The Lasers tallied a conference high seven All-Conference selections, including six First Team selections.

Flannery receives her third straight All-Conference honor, including her second appearance on the First Team. In 19 games, Flannery contributed a team second-best 15 goals and 14 assists for 44 points while producing four game-winning tallies including the Lasers lone goal in overtime versus Mount Ida in the GNAC Semifinal.

An All-Conference Second Team selection from a year ago, Taylor boasted a team high 17 goals and 45 points. Pignone, a two-time GNAC Player of the Week, contributed 16 goals and four assists for 36 points. Franzik contributed two goals and three assists for the Lasers in her junior campaign.

In her senior campaign, Falco was a major piece in a Lasers defense that allowed a conference second-best 17 goals. Falco receives her second career All-Conference honor, after a Second Team selection in 2016.

Senior Erica Connors (South Berwick, Maine) rounds out the Lasers All-Conference honorees as the lone Second Team selection.  Connors contributed five goals and five assists for 15 points this season.