Vikings go 19-1 in 2014 and win second straight MWLC title and tournament; host first NCAA tournament game in school history; program is now 51-8 in first three years

In its third season of competition, the Augustana women's lacrosse team under the direction of head coach Sara Tisdale, turned in its best campaign yet. The Vikings finished 19-1 with the lone loss coming against defending national champion, Salisbury in the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Division III national tournament and now sit at 51-8 after three seasons.
 
Riding a perfect 16-game win streak through the regular season, Tisdale's unit claimed the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference's regular season title for the second straight year, this time with a 10-0 mark. The squad earned hosting rights of the MWLC tournament and claimed that title for the second year in a row as well along with the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament.
Tisdale repeated as the MWLC "Coach of the Year" and nine players earned all-conference honors. First-team selections included Jenna Hofmann (Columbine HS, Littleton, Colo.), Emily Pavlik (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange, Ill.), Nattali Shelton (Wheaton-Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.), Kelly Stelzer (Wheaton-Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.), Kaylee Nolan (Sandburg HS, Orland Park, Ill.), and Hilary Kargl (Sacred Heart Academy, Louisville, Ky.). Earning second-team honors were Emily Handrahan (Lake Zurich HS, Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) and Barbara Vega (Marion Catholic HS, Flossmoor, Ill.). Freshman Annie Hopkins (Mother Mcauley HS, Chicago, Ill.) was named to the league's All-Sportsmanship team.
On May 12^th, five Vikings were named as Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association's Great Lakes All Region selections. The first-team selections were Hofmann and Kargl while Nolan, Pavlik, and Stelzer earned second-team honors.
Hofmann started 18 of 20 contests in the net for the Vikings and finished with an 8.13 goals against average to go along with a 42.9 save percentage. Hofmann had 81 saves and allowed 108 goals on 246 shots faced. At the other end of the field, Kargl led the blue and gold in goals (62), assists (66), and points at 128. She also recorded 31 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers. Nolan finished the year with 27 goals and 13 assists in addition to team-highs in draw controls (102), ground balls (50), and caused turnovers (21). As a defender Pavlik finished with three goals and five assists as well as 38 ground balls, 28 draw controls, and 18 caused turnovers. Stelzer rounded out her junior season with 44 goals and 22 assists to go along with 21 ground balls, 16 draw controls, and 11 caused turnovers.
 
A trip south opened the 2014 campaign for the Vikings as the team faced off against a trio of opponents. The first stop on the group's southern tour was Sewanee, Tennessee, where the northerners battled to a 16-13 victory. Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia was the site of a 21-1 Augustana triumph and was followed by a swing back north at Centre in Danville, Kentucky where the Vikings improved to 3-0 with a 12-6 final advantage.
 
Next on the schedule was a trip to Tisdale's home state of Michigan, where the Vikings continued their dominance and downed Adrian by a 21-10 tally.  On March 21^st Thorson-Lucken Field finally saw its first action of the 2014 campaign when DePauw came to town but the hosts stayed perfect with a 15-8 extinguishing of the Tigers to move to 5-0. The unit took to the road again and swamped the Falcons of Concordia (Wis.) 17-6 to open MWLC action on March 29^th.
 
During the first week of April Augustana hosted a three-game homestead. Dubuque fell in a 22-0 stomping before Denison visited  and finished just short at 15-14. The 8-0 Vikings took on a 10-player Loras squad that resulted in a 21-3 routing in Rock Island.
 
Augustana returned to the road and beat Benedictine (22-0), Mount St. Joseph (21-4), and Carthage (18-7) to climb to a flawless 12-0. North Central came to town on April 22^nd but couldn't avenge a 2013 MWLC tournament championship loss to the Vikings and fell by a 14-9 decision.
 
The Vikings visited Aurora for the final regular season road game of the year and came out on top of the 20-2 score while improving to 14-0 overall including 9-0 on the road.
 
On April 27^th the Augustana program hosted Beloit on "senior day" when the Vikings took a few moments to honor the lone senior on the roster, Meredith Goodale (New Trier HS, Glencoe, Ill.). Goodale produced the final offense for the Vikings in the contest as they won the 21-4 decision. A couple days later Tisdale and company finished the regular season at a perfect 16-0 mark following a 21-0 stomping of Fontbonne.
 
In the MWLC tournament Augustana eliminated North Central 16-9 in the semi-finals and sent Carthage packing the next evening by a 17-11 margin. At 18-0 the blue and gold had earned its second straight NCAA Division III national tournament appearance. Things kept going the Vikings' way as they learned they would play host to Adrian in a second-round NCAA game on May 10^th. Adrian is the only team to have beaten Augustana at Thorson-Lucken Field back in the 2013 season. Despite a slow start, Augustana won 22-14 to move to 27-1 all-time on home turf.
 
A week later, the 19-0 repeating MWLC regular season and tournament champions were heading east, specifically to Salisbury, Maryland, home of the defending national champion Sea Gulls. The hosts came out on top of the 16-3 final score and ended Augustana's perfect year.
 
During the 20-game season, Augustana faced opponents from 11 different states, winning against teams from Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. The Rock Island unit also won games in seven different states including Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio.
 
As the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin will begin to field lacrosse during the 2015 season, the Vikings will say goodbye to the MWLC after two years as a member. During those seasons the blue and gold went a perfect 22-0 in league play including the conference tournament. Tisdale claimed the "Coach of the Year" honor both seasons as she led the Augustana unit to two regular season and tournament championships in the MWLC.
 
The 2014 campaign by the Vikings lead to the falling of a multitude of records (full-list below). Some of the highlights include Kargl breaking the record for most assists in a contest three times during the season including twice in a single weekend and 20 assists in a single game against Fontbonne for the most assists in a single contest. Along with Kargl, other Vikings to etch their names into the books were Nolan, Pavlik, Kendall Maduro (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville, Ill.), Hofmann, and Stelzer. Multiple team categories were also rewritten.
 
 
2014 MIDWEST WOMEN'S LACROSSE CONFERENCE STANDINGS

School	Conf	Overall
AUGUSTANA	10-0	19-1
Carthage	8-2	11-7
Concordia (Wis.)	8-2	12-5
North Central	8-2	9-6
Beloit	6-4	10-7
Mt. Saint Joseph	5-5	9-7
Aurora	3-7	4-11
Benedictine	3-7	4-12
Dubuque	2-8	4-11
Loras	2-8	3-16
Fontbonne	0-10	2-12

 
Friday, May 2 (Semifinals)
#2 Carthage 15, #3 Concordia (Wis.) 14 3OT
#1 Augustana 16, #4 North Central 9
 
Saturday, May 3 (Final)
Augustana 17, North Central 11
 
2014 AUGUSTANA SUPERLATIVES
 
IWLCA All-Great Lakes Region: 1st team – Hilary Kargl, A; Jenna Hofmann, G… 2nd team – Kaylee Nolan, M; Emily Pavlik, D; Kelly Stelzer, M.
ALL-MWLC: 1st team – Jenna Hofmann, G; Emily Pavlik, D; Nattali Shleton, D; Kelly Stelzer, M; Kaylee Nolan, M; Hilary Kargl, A… 2nd team – Emily Handrahan, A; Barbara Vega, D…All-Sportsmanship team – Annie Hopkins
MWLC ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Nellie Bubb, Bridget Conniff, Shelby Cosman, Cori Duncan, Quinn Foley, Jenna Hofmann, Anne Hopkins, Anna Kyllo, Olivia Mayer, Patricia Miller, Sarah Osier, Emily Pavlik, Rebecca Pollard
MWLC Coach of the Year – Sara Tisdale.
MWLC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Hilary Kargl (Offense) – 3/3/14 & 4/7/14; Kaylee Nolan (Defense) – 3/3/14 & 4/7/14; Jenna Hofmann (Defense) 3/10/14.
MWLC INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS LEADERS: Assists per game – 3.20, Hilary Kargl.
MWLC TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS: Goals per game – 19.70; Assists per game – 13.10; Points per game – 32.80; Draw Controls per game – 17.90; Shots per game – 35.70; Shots on goal per game – 30.00; Save percentage – 52.7%; Goals against average – 3.50.

NCAA TEAM TOP 25 STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Points - 576, 1st; Scoring Margin - 10.90, 1st; Winning Percentage - .950, 3rd; Scoring Offense - 17.75, 4th; Scoring Defense - 6.85, 8th; Draw Controls - 16.30, 9th.

NCAA INDIVIDUAL TOP 50 STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Points - 128, Hilary Kargl, 2nd; Points Per Game - 6.40, Hilary Kargl, 7th; Assists - 66, Hilary Kargl, 8th and 41, Emily Handrahan, 22nd; Assists Per Game - 3.30, Hilary Kargl, 8th and 2.05, Emily Handrahan, 41st; Goals Against Average - 8.13, Jenna Hofmann, 22nd; Draw Controls - 5.10, Kaylee Nolan, 44th.
 
SCHOOL RECORDS:
GAME:
Most assists in a game – 6 Hilary Kargl (4/5/14 – Denison); 7 Hilary Kargl (4/6/14 – Loras); 10 Hilary Kargl (4/29/14 – Fontbonne); Most draw controls in a game – 12 Kaylee Nolan (4/5/14 – Denison); 13 Kaylee Nolan (4/15/14 – Carthage); Fewest goals allowed in a game – 0 Jenna Hofmann (4/1/14 – Dubuque, 4/8/14 – Benedictine, 4/29/14 – Fontbonne); Most team assists in a game – 20 (4/29/14 – Fontbonne);
 
SEASON:
Most points in a season- 128 Hilary Kargl; Most assists in a season – 66 Hilary Kargl; Most ground balls in a season – 50 Kaylee Nolan; Most draw controls in a season – 102 Kaylee Nolan; Most goalie wins in a season; 17 Jenna Hofmann; Fewest goals allowed in a season – 108 Jenna Hofmann; Most team points in a season – 576; Most team goals in a season – 355; Most team assists in a season – 220; Most team wins in a season – 19; Best team record – 19-1 (.950); fewest goals allowed in a season – 137;
 
CAREER:

Most points in a career 314 Hilary Kargl; Highest career points per game – 5.32 Hilary Kargl; Most goals in a career – 194 Hilary Kargl; Highest career goals per game average – 3.29 Hilary Kargl; Most assists in a career – 120 Hilary Kargl; Most ground balls in a career – 121 Emily Pavlik; Highest ground balls per game average in a career – 2.32 Kaylee Nolan; Most draw controls in a career – 180 Kaylee Nolan; Highest draw controls per game average in a career – 4.39 Kaylee Nolan; Most caused turnovers in a career – 69 Emily Pavlik; Highest career caused turnover average per game – 1.21 Kendall Maduro; Most game winning goals in a career – 7 Hilary Kargl; Most career free-position goals – 17 Hilary Kargl; Most shots in a career – 388 Hilary Kargl; Highest career shots per game average – 6.58; Most career shots on goal – 300 Hilary Kargl; Highest career shots on goal per game average – 5.08 Hilary Kargl; Most games played in a career – 59 Emily Pavlik and Hilary Kargl; Most games started in a career – 55 Kelly Stelzer; Most career minutes played – 3401 Kelly Stelzer.