St. Mary's Women's Lacrosse Picks Up IWLCA Academic Honors: Branch, Bateman Named to Academic Honor Roll

Charlottesville, Va. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's lacrosse team was one of 64 Division III institutions to garner academic squad honors from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association while senior attacker Kelsey Branch (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) and junior defender Elisa Bateman (Sparks, Md./Hereford) named to the academic honor roll.

To be considered an IWLCA Academic Squad, a team must have a collective grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

The Seahawks posted a team GPA of 3.204 for the 2010 season under second-year head coach Kara Reber.  St. Mary's was the only Capital Athletic Conference school to pick up the IWLCA academic distinction.

Bates College (3.470 GPA), Washington & Lee University (3.458 GPA) and Vassar College (3.410 GPA) were all named IWLCA Merit Squads by virtue of having one of the top three team GPAs in Division III.  Nicole Ditillio of Gettysburg College was named the IWLCA Division III Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Branch and Bateman were of two of 184 student-athletes at 81 Division III institutions that were recognized by the IWLCA for their excellence in the classroom during the 2009-10 academic year.

All student-athletes are nominated by their institutions and must have attained at least junior standing academically.  Nominees considered had a grade point average of at least 3.5 or were in the top 10 percent of their squad.

An English major with a 3.606 GPA, Branch is a two-time selection to the IWLCA academic honor roll.  The 5-6 attacker ended her career as the school's all-time assist leader with 130 and a two-time second team All-Capital Athletic Conference selection.  Branch paced the Seahawks all four years in assists, finishing her senior campaign as the third-leading scorer with nine goals and 37 assists for 46 points.  She added 26 ground balls, 18 draw controls and six caused turnovers.  Among NCAA Division III players, Branch ranked 24th in assists and 26th in assists per game (2.06) while ranking third within the conference in assists per game.

A human studies major with a 3.717 GPA, Bateman helped steady the defense with 28 ground balls and nine caused turnovers as she played in 16 games with 14 starts.