NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. - For the second straight season, the Gardner-Webb women's lacrosse team earned IWLCA Academic Honor Squad honors, announced on Wednesday, July 26. 

To qualify for the honor, the women's lacrosse team must have posted a 3.2 or higher team GPA for the academic year. The 'Dawgs finished the 2022-23 academic year with a 3.64 cumulative GPA.

Additionally, eight players earned spots on the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll. Grace Briggs, Lauren Connor, Victoria Fischetti, Madi Mamoone, Aimie Perino, Jada Preston, Brittany Sherrod, and Emily White were one of the 949 student-athletes from 96 different institutions to earn a spot on the list. To be eligible for this honor, student-athletes must be a junior, senior, or graduate student and have earned a cumulative academic GPA of 3.50 or greater. 

Preston leads the way for the 'Dawgs, finishing with a 4.0 GPA, majoring in Clinical Mental Health. In her final season in Boiling Springs, she finished her career as the school's all-time leader in assists (104) and points (254) and second in goals (150). Preston reached 200 career points at Clemson (2/22), collected her 150th career goal and 250th career point in her final career game at High Point (4/29), and notched her 100th assist at Furman (4/22). With 254 points, Preston is sixth in league history, her150 career goals ranks ninth in conference history, and her 104 career assists is fourth in Big South history.

A First Team All-Conference Defender, Briggs earns a spot on the list with a 3.70 GPA while majoring in Business Management. Briggs her career highs in groundballs and caused turnovers while setting the school record in CTs in a season with 35. She ranked 19th in the NCAA in caused turnovers per game and third in the Big South. Briggs moved into fourth in all-time GWU history for career caused turnovers with 60 after four years.

Connor earned a spot on the list, finishing with a 3.62 GPA while majoring in Exercise Science. The junior had a breakthrough season, recording career-highs in goals, assists, points and draw controls. Connor notched a goal in 13 of the final 14 games of the year to finish with 18 on the year. She had five games with multiple goals and seven with multiple points.

Fischetti finished the year with a 3.83 GPA, majoring in Communications. Fischetti appeared in 16 games in 2023, including three starts. The junior scored her first career goal at Youngstown State (3/14). 

Finishing the year with a 3.82 GPA while majoring in Political Science and International Affairs, Mamoone appeared in three games during the year, including the March 4 home matchup with Davidson. She directed her lone shot of the season on goal at Akron (3/12).

Perino continued her strong career at Gardner-Webb, earning a 3.68 GPA while majoring in Exercise Science. The junior recorded career-highs in goals, groundballs, caused turnovers and draw controls. She finished the year with 22 goals and nine assists for 31 points, which was third among GWU players, scoring a point in each of the final 12 games of the year. Perino broke into the Top-10 in GWU history for goals, points and assists, now ranking in eighth for each statistic.

Sherrod earned a 3.84 GPA while majoring in Homeland Security and Psychology this past year. The junior earned a spot on the Big South All-Academic Team. On the field, Sherrod finished the year third on the team with 25 goals for a career-high to now rank tenth in program history for career goals. Against Akron on March 12, she recorded her first game-winning goal in a career-high six-goal outing.

White did not make an appearance on the field this season due to injury, but she continued to excel in the classroom, earning a 3.97 GPA while majoring in Communications and Marketing. 

The Gardner-Webb women's lacrosse team recently announced the hiring of Kathleen Mirgon Crum as the next head coach of the program. The Runnin' Bulldogs will release their schedule for the 2024 season at a later date.