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June 6, 2006
Virginia student-athletes Tyler Leachman, Nikki Lieb, Blair Weymouth and Kim Connors were all honored with selection to the womenslacrosse.com All-American teams, as announced by the organization. Leachman and Lieb were both first-team honorees while Connors and Weymouth were both second-team selections. In addition, Weymouth was named the National Rookie of the Year and Julie Hauser was named the National Unsung Hero of the Year. This is the third year that Lieb has been named a first-team All-American by the organization. Weymouth’s honor as National Rookie of the Year is the second time in five years that a Cavalier has been so honored, as Weymouth joins Amy Appelt (’05) who earned the honor in 2002. Hauser joins Morgan Thalenberg (’04) who earned the honor in 2004.
Leachman’s honor means that she is a consensus first-team All-American after earning first-team honors from both insidelacrosse.com and the IWLCA/USLacrosse earlier this month. She had another phenomenal season for the Cavaliers, leading them in goals for the second consecutive year with 56 while ranking second in draw controls with 41. Leachman, the ACC Tournament MVP who set a record with 11 goals in the tournament as the Hoos won the 2006 ACC Title, also had 31 assists this year, which ranks sixth all-time in school history for a single season. Her 87 points is the sixth-highest single-season total in school history. In addition, Leachman’s 41 draw controls not only rank 11th all-time for a single season, but also she ranks eighth all-time in school history with 109 draw controls. Leachman also ranks sixth in Virginia history with 66 career assists, and her 261 points ranks third all-time in school history. She is one of only three players in school history to have over 200 points and 100 draw controls. Leachman was a two-time ACC Player of the Week and a two-time National Player of the Week. She also earned All-Conference honors for the second consecutive year.
Lieb is Virginia’s first-ever National Defensive Midfielder of the Year. She led the Cavaliers in draw controls with 43 and earned first-team All-American honors in the midfield after earning honors as a defender the last two years. This year she was called up on be a more offensive threat, and Lieb responded with more points this year (41) than her first three years combined (39). An All-ACC selection for the third year and an All-ACC Tournament selection for the third consecutive year as well, Lieb was named a finalist for the prestigious Tewaaraton Trophy, the only midfielder in the nation so honored. Her 43 draw controls ranks tenth all-time for a single season in Virginia history, and she closed out her career with 136 career draw controls, which ranks second all-time in school history. Up until 2004, the organization awarded one midfielder of the year award; Lauren Aumiller (’03) was the recipient in both 2002 and 2003; in 2003 Tiffany Schummer (’03) was named the National Defensive Player of the Year. This is the second year that insidelacrosse.com has named both an offensive and defensive midfielder of the year. Lieb has been a consensus first-team All-American in each of her last three years.
Weymouth is the consensus National Rookie of the Year after earning the same honor from insidelacrosse.com earlier. She had one of the most prolific rookie seasons in school history. She was named the ACC Freshman of the Year after helping the Cavaliers tie for the best record in the regular season; she was then an integral part in Virginia’s winning the ACC tournament title with a six-goal performance in the title game and the upset of top-ranked and top-seeded Duke. Weymouth tied the first-year record for assists with 21, and her 70 points and 49 goals both rank second on the all-time list among first-years. She was named the National Rookie of the Week by womenslacrosse.com on March 14 and April 24.
Kim Connors was named an All-American for the second consecutive year and also earned her second consecutive All-ACC selection in 2006 as well. One of the top defensive midfielders in the nation, Connors was a key part of the Virginia defense that ranked third in the nation in the final ranking. She ranked in the top five of Virginia players in 2006 in draw controls, caused turnovers and ground balls as well as ranking seventh in goals. She finished her career ranked ninth in career draw controls and 11th in caused turnovers.
Hauser was the lone senior on the field in a defense that finished the 2006 season ranked third in the nation–after losing all three line defenders to graduation last year. The Cavaliers allowed only two teams to score in double digits–UNC twice and Duke once. Hauser was an integral part of that defense, ranking third on the team in ground balls and fourth in caused turnovers. The Cavaliers started the season ranked No. 10 and finished the regular season ranked No. 2 thanks to a tenacious defense that held many of the top-scoring teams in the nation well below their usual output.