Springfield, Ohio – After leading the Wittenberg University women’s lacrosse team to a school record 14 wins and the Tigers’ third straight undefeated North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season, midfielders Francine Murzynski (Mentor, Ohio/Lake Catholic), Alie Marousek (Ballston Lake, NY/Portsmouth (NH)) and Logan Warye (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) have earned Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-Great Lakes Region honors.
All three players earned first-team all-region and are now under consideration for 2014 All-America honors. It was the first all-region award for Warye, and the second for Marousek, who earned first-team All-West Region in 2012. Murzynski earned second-team All-West Region in 2012, followed by back-to-back first-team All-Great Lakes Region awards in 2013 and 2014.
Murzynski, Marousek and Warye were the Tigers’ leading scorers in a record-breaking 2014 season as the Tigers broke the program mark for goals in a season for a fifth straight year. Wittenberg ranked second in all of NCAA Division III in scoring offense with 18.29 goals per game while scoring 311 times in 17 games.
The three all-region honorees played key roles in Wittenberg’s success the last three years as the Tigers have compiled records of 38-12 overall and 22-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season. Wittenberg has been stopped in the NCAC Tournament each year, including runner-up finishes in 2012 and 2014.
Murzynski ranked third on the team with career-highs in goals (41) and total points (68) and second in assists (24). She also ranked second in ground balls with 61 and led the team by a wide margin with a school-record 98 draw controls. For her career, Murzynski ranks sixth in goals (123), second in assists (74), third in total points (197), 11th in ground balls (186) and first by a wide margin in draw controls (266).
Murzynski, who ranked second in the NCAC and 31st nationally in draw controls per game (5.76), was a three-time first-team All-NCAC honoree. She capped her career with NCAC Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2014.
Marousek ranked second on the team in goals (45) and total points (70) and third in assists (25). A three-time All-NCAC selection, including second-team honors in 2014, Marousek also was among the team leaders in ground balls (36), draw controls (46) and caused turnovers (26). For her career, Marousek ranks in top 10 in program history for points (179), goals (109), assists (70) and draw controls (107).
Warye led the team and league with a whopping 67 goals, which broke her own school record for tallies in a season. Warye, a first-team All-NCAC selection in 2013 and 2014, added a team-best 29 assists to account for a record-breaking 96 total points. For her career, Warye has piled up 144 goals, 48 assists and 192 total points, putting her on pace to break the school records for career goals and points in 2015.
Written By: Ryan Maurer