First Season for New Major Honor

FOREST, Va. --- For the first time in league history, ODAC women's lacrosse has moved to pair of top player awards to lead its annual All-ODAC Women's Lacrosse Awards. Washington and Lee University attacker Jess Castelo is the first ODAC Offensive Player of the Year, while Roanoke College defender Emma Boris is the first ODAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Generals mentor Brooke O'Brien took home ODAC Coach of the Year honors from her peers, while Shenandoah University midfielder Alyson Bittinger earned ODAC Rookie of the Year laurels. Lynchburg College midfielder Dorrie MacGregor was tabbed the ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete by the conference's sports information directors.

Not quite half of the 39 All-ODAC honorees this season earned awards last year with several new faces dotting the 2018 lists. But there are 16 student-athletes on the chart that earned awards in 2017, including nine on the the All-ODAC First Team. Randolph-Macon duo Alicia Hsieh and Alex Lightfoot appear on the top team for a third straight season. RC's Boris and W&L's Riley Garcia are repeat first team defenders, as well as Lynchburg attacker Alicia Sandoval. W&L's Castelo and Cordelia Peters moved up from the All-ODAC Second Team, which is also true of LC defender Rachel Henderson.

RELATED: 2017 All-ODAC Awards | All-Time All-ODAC

Castelo, a senior from Red Bank, N.J., had a strong season across the stat sheet in helping Washington and Lee to the conference title. She enters the NCAA Tournament with 62 points, the fourth-most in the ODAC. She ranks 10th with 41 goals scored and sixth with 21 assists. She has also pulled in 25 ground balls and 16 draw controls to go with 10 caused turnovers. Castelo registered at least one point in all 18 games played so far this season with personal-best 11 point explosion on six goals and five assists against Lynchburg in early April. She enters the NCAA postseason with 13 points in last four games including five in the championship-clinching contest against Randolph-Macon.

Boris, a junior from Cockeysville, Md., earns the first ODAC defensive top player honor after leading the conference in overall and league-only caused turnovers and ground balls. Boris finished with 44 overall caused turnovers, 27 of which came during conference games. She also topped the charts with 61 overall ground balls with 31 coming against league foes. She also got forward for two goals, scoring on both shots she took this season. Boris registered at least two ground balls in each of 16 games played and had at least one caused turnover in 14 of those contests. Twice she registered a season-high six ground balls, while six was also her season-best in caused turnovers at Virginia Wesleyan to close the regular season.

O'Brien enjoys her sixth overall and third straight ODAC top coaching honor as her nationally 10th-ranked Generals prepare for first round play at York College (Pa.) in the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament.  In midst of 11th season in the lead chair in Lexington, O'Brien led the Generals to their ninth straight and 19th overall ODAC title with a 14-7 win over Randolph-Macon in the conference championship.  It is the 10th league trophy lifted in her tenure.  Entering the NCAA postseason, O'Brien boasts a 164-51 (.763) overall record that includes an 93-4 (.959) mark in ODAC play.

Bittinger, a freshman from Westminster, Md., pairs this award with a selection to the All-ODAC Second Team as she stepped in and led the Hornets in scoring. Her 47 goals scored are tied for third in the ODAC, which she paired with nine assists for an ODAC eighth-best 56 points. She was especially efficient in free-position opportunities, ranking third with 20 goals in 32 chances. Bittinger registered at least one point in all 17 games played this season, including a season-high seven points on a personal-best six goals and an assist in a non-conference game at the University of Scranton. She scored at least two goals in 14-of-17 games played.

MacGregor, a senior from Centreville, Md., adds an All-ODAC First Team honor to this award as she stars both on and off the field. In the classroom, MacGregor maintains a 3.93 grade point average as a nursing major. She was named Lynchburg's Female Academic Athlete of the Year earlier this spring. She is a member of the Student Nursing Association as well as the Sigma Theta Tau nursing honorary in addition to the Phi Eta Sigma (first-year) and Chi Alpha Sigma (student-athlete) honor societies. MacGregor is the community service chair for Lynchburg's SAAC, having led the Hornets in volunteer work at the Virginia 10 Miler, Lynchburg bone marrow drive, One Love Foundation, Special Olympics, and Lynchburg Humane Society. On the field, the perennial Dean's List member finished the season with 40 points on 34 goals and six assists. MacGregor ranked #1 in the conference with program-record 124 draw controls and added 35 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers.

Listed below is the full set of All-ODAC honors. For more information, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com.  Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.

2018 ALL-ODAC WOMENS LACROSSE AWARDS
ODAC Offensive Player of the Year: Jess Castelo, Sr., A, Washington and Lee University
ODAC Defensive Player of the Year: Emma Boris, Jr., D, Roanoke College
ODAC Coach of the Year: Brooke O’Brien, Washington and Lee University
ODAC Rookie of the Year: Alyson Bittinger, Fr., M, Shenandoah University
ODAC/Va. Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete: Dorrie MacGregor, Sr., M, Lynchburg College