University of North Carolina Athletics
Four Tar Heels Earn All-America Honors
November 19, 2007 | Field Hockey
Nov. 19, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina seniors Rachel Dawson and Jesse Gey, who finished their collegiate field hockey careers Sunday in the NCAA Championship game, have been named to the Division I All-America first team, announced Monday by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. Senior Laree Beans and freshman Katelyn Falgowski were named to the second team.
The Tar Heels wrapped up the 2007 season Sunday with a 3-0 win over Penn State to earn the program's fifth national title. UNC's final record of 24-0 equals the best in school history.
This year marks the 14th time overall that UNC has had more than one player on the All-America first team. The last time was 2004, when Dawson was a sophomore and joined senior Kelsey Keeran on the squad. Dawson becomes the 12th Tar Heel - the first since Keeran in 2003 and '04 - to earn first-team honors more than once. She also was named to the second team in 2005.
Gey's honor is her first and she becomes the 28th UNC field hockey player to be recognized with a spot on the first team. Carolina field hockey players have earned first-team All-America honors on 43 occasions since 1983, when Mary Sentementes received the first of her two nods.
The All-America honors also were the first for Beans and Falgowski.
All four players were instrumental in Carolina's success this season. Dawson, the 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, led UNC in goals with 19. She finished her career with 56, tied for the seventh-best total in school history. Gey had 12 goals and 20 assists, both second on the team. She and Dawson both totalled a team-high 44 points on the year.
eans, who is a team captain along with Dawson, finished the season with 25 points on 10 goals and five assists. Three of her goals were gamewinners. Falgowski, the ACC Freshman of the Year, led the nation in assists this season with 21, a total that ranks ninth on UNC's single-season assists chart. She also had nine goals for 39 points, third on the team.
Dawson and Falgowski are members of the U.S. National Team and Gey is a member of the U.S. Developmental Squad. All missed the William & Mary game will competing for the U.S. but were in the starting lineup for the other 23. Beans started all 24.
Eight of the players on the 16-member first team are from ACC schools.
2007 Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-America Teams
First team
Lucia Belassi (Michigan); Kelsey Cutchins (James Madison); Rachel Dawson (North Carolina); Bob Dirks (Boston College); Jesse Gey (North Carolina); Denise Infante (American); Michelle Kasold (Wake Forest); Jen Long (Penn State); Yesenia Luces (Ohio State); Kathryn Masson (Maryland); Katie O'Donnell (Maryland); Lizzy Peijs (Connecticut); Susie Rowe (Maryland); Pam Spuehler (Boston University); Laura Suchoski (Duke); Kiersten Woods (Penn State)
Second team
Laree Beans (North Carolina); Jaimee Deacon (Michigan State); Suus Dekker (Boston University); Marian Dickinson (Duke); Katelyn Falgowski (North Carolina); Linda Haussener (Ohio State); Jennifer Kleinhans (Connecticut); Alli Lokey (Temple); Lauren Pfeifer (Iowa); Paige Schmidt (Princeton); Michelle Simpson (Albany); Janneke Van Leeuwen (Maryland); Melissa Walls (James Madison); Meghan Wheeler (Connecticut); Caitlin Williams (Duke); Blair Wynne (Lock Haven)
Third team
Janelle Avila (Louisville); Meghan Beamesderfer (Iowa); Julia Berkowitz (Boston College); Danielle Collins (Vermont); Aileen Davis (Wake Forest); Leigh Fawcett (Syracuse); Sarah Gotomski (Drexel); Sarah Hudak (Boston University); Paige Laytos (Michigan); Gena Miller (Columbia); Lauren Miller (Duke); Flor Rijpma (Michigan State); Allie Scola (Penn State); Harriett Thayer (Yale); Ashley Walls (James Madison); Mallory Weisen (Penn State)
