Radford’s Ava Goeller has been named Big South Freshman of the Year, the first Highlander lacrosse player in program history to receive the award.
In addition, five other Highlander lacrosse players received Big South honors the conference announced Thursday afternoon.
Goeller was also named to first-team all-conference as she burst onto the scene this season. Starting in 12 of the Highlanders’ 16 games this season, she set a program record for freshman with 30 goals. Her four assists pushed her point-total on the season to 34, which was second-most on the team. She rounded out her strong stat sheet with 19 ground balls, 11 caused turnovers, and 25 draw controls as well.
In addition, Katie Bendrick was named to the first-team all-conference as well thanks to her consistently strong defensive play this season. Bendrick’s 84 draw controls were the best on the team by far. She has 181 in her career, second most in program history. Her 35 caused turnovers and 41 ground balls were also both team-bests.
Coming off an injury in 2020, Lindsey Carroll showed no slowing down as she was named second-team all-conference. Carroll paced the offense all season, leading the team with 46 points off her 25 goals and 21 assists. She also picked up 12 ground balls. Her biggest moment of the season came with her game-winning goal against Winthrop, Radford’s first ever-win against the Eagles.
Grace Gleason was also named second-team all-conference. She scored 19 goals and notched two assists on the offensive side of things while on the defensive end she picked up 28 ground balls, caused seven turnovers, and won 17 draw controls.
Rounding out the awards was Rachel Rogers, who picked up both all-academic and second-team all-conference honors. On top of her excellent work off the field and in the books, Rogers picked up 38 ground balls and caused 29 turnovers to help fuel the Highlander defense.
