Avery Bell, Colorado College, Defensive Player of the Week (Week 6)

AVERY BELL OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a sophomore midfielder from Basalt, Colo., has been named the SCAC Women’s Lacrosse Defensive Player-of-the-Week for games played from Monday, March 11th through Sunday, March 17th.

Bell recorded six caused turnovers and five ground balls while leading the Colorado College defensive effort to a pair of victories last week, including a key West Region win over Illinois Wesleyan University on Friday. Her three caused turnovers in each game were season highs and helped the Tigers hold both opponents to fewer than 10 goals. In Tuesday’s 17-7 win over Worcester State University, a game that was moved up a day to avoid the bomb cyclone and blizzard that struck Colorado Springs on Wednesday morning, Bell also added a goal and an assist. During the 17-8 victory over IWU, Bell helped the Tiger defense limit the high-scoring Titans to only four in each half. Illinois Wesleyan entered the game averaging 16.7 goals per contest. After IWU pulled to within 10-7 with 19:08 remaining, the CC defense dialed up its intensity and played nearly 19 minutes of shutout ball before the Titans scored with just 31 seconds to play. The Tigers, ranked No. 24 in the IWLCA poll, improved to 5-0.

Other outstanding performances in the SCAC:
Senior midfielder Mason Cosgrove of Dallas stuffed the stat sheet in a pair of losses last week. Cosgrove collected four ground balls, won 11 draw controls and caused three turnovers to lead the Dallas defensive effort. Senior defender Julia Tape of Southwestern led the Pirates defensive effort last week that included a win over Cornell College. Tape collected four ground balls, caused three turnovers and won three draw controls in two games.