Gator Country

Florida midfielder Kitty Cullen was named ALC Player of the Week for the fourth time this season on Tuesday. / Gator Country file photo by Tim Casey

Florida’s Kitty Cullen (Rockville, Md.) and Hayley Katzenberger (Damascus, Md.) have been honored by the American Lacrosse Conference for their performances in games played from April 11-April 17.

Cullen was named the ALC’s Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season while also garnering consensus National Player of the Week honors. The sophomore midfielder was named Nike/Inside Lacrosse.com National Player of the Week, National Player of the Week by womenslax.com and National Offensive Player of the Week by womenslacrosse.com, having received national honors for the second time in three weeks.

Katzenberger was named the ALC’s Rookie of the Week for her stellar play against then-No. 2 Northwestern and No. 17 Vanderbilt. This is Katzenberger’s first Rookie of the Week honor, the first ALC Weekly honor of her career and Cullen and Katzenberger combined for Florida’s seventh and eighth ALC Weekly honors of the season.

This is the first time in program history that the Gators have had an ALC Weekly honor for six straight weeks and is the longest streak for any school in the ALC this season.

Tewaaraton nominee Cullen played one of the best games of her career in Florida’s upset of No. 2 Northwestern, scoring six goals against the Wildcats, including three of Florida’s four second-half goals. It was her fourth six-goal performance of her sophomore campaign. The sophomore was 3-of-4 from the 8-meter, giving her 17 free position goals on the year. Despite being injured against Northwestern, Cullen had an assist on the afternoon in only 30 minutes of play against the No. 17 Commodores, finding Brittany Dashiell open to tie the game at 3-3 after the Gators found themselves down 0-2 early in the contest. She leads the nation with 67 goals, while adding six assists for 73 points on the year.

Redshirt freshman Katzenberger took over center duties for the majority of Florida’s defeat of No. 2 Northwestern, helping the Gators to the upset victory. Against No. 17 Vanderbilt, Katzenberger scored in the Gators’ 8-7 victory over No. 17 Vanderbilt, where every goal was crucial. She was able to weave her way through the Commodore defense and score off a pass from Brittany Dashiell to even the game at 4-4. She also added a ground ball and a draw control against the ‘Dores. Katzenberger leads all Florida newcomers with five goals this season, coupled with two assists for seven points on the year. She’s also added seven ground balls, four caused turnovers and eight draw controls.

In a week that saw the American Lacrosse Conference make history as all six schools became ranked in this week’s IWLCA poll, Florida and Johns Hopkins picked up weekly honors by the conference as Johns Hopkins’ Brooke Lipinski was named the ALC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in 2011.

The Gators went undefeated at home (11-0) and in the ALC (5-0) en route to their first ALC regular season title. Florida has two weeks off before facing Cornell on Sunday, May 1st. The ALC Tournament follows soon after from May 5th-7th, where the Gators hold the No. 1 seed after clinching with their upset over then-No. 2 Northwestern on Thursday night.

American Lacrosse Conference Player of the Week Honors in Florida History

2010 Season:

Week 2: Brittany Dashiell, Co-Rookie of the Week
Week 3: Ashley Bruns, Rookie of the Week
Week 5: Ashley Bruns, Rookie of the Week
Week 7: Sam Farrell, Defensive Player of the Week; Ashley Bruns, Rookie of the Week

2011 Season:

Week 1: Kitty Cullen, Offensive Player of the Week
Week 4: Sam Farrell, Defensive Player of the Week
Week 5: Ashley Bruns, Offensive Player of the Week (also National Player of the Week by WomensLax.com, National Offensive Player of the Week by WomensLacrosse.com)
Week 6: Kitty Cullen, Offensive Player of the Week
Week 7: Kitty Cullen, Offensive Player of the Week (also National Offensive Player of the Week by WomensLacrosse.com)
Week 8: Mikey Meagher, Defensive Player of the Week
Week 9: Kitty Cullen, Offensive Player of the Week (also National Player of the Week by WomensLax.com, National Offensive Player of the Week by WomensLacrosse.com); Hayley Katzenberger, Rookie of the Week

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