April 24, 2012

After helping the UMass women's lacrosse team wrap up its second consecutive perfect Atlantic 10 regular-season schedule, senior midfielder Dayna Defliese was named the A-10 Defensive Player of the Week as announced by the league office. Defliese was key in holding opponents to just a seven-goal average in both games last weekend.

The native of Garden City, N.Y., posted 2 assists, 3 caused turnovers, 5 groundballs and 3 draw controls helping the Minutewomen to a 2-0 weekend with wins over La Salle and at Temple.

Defliese and the UMass defense allowed just 7 goals in each game. Against La Salle, she had a pair of assists and a groundball, while at Temple, Defliese had 4 groundballs and caused three turnovers.

UMass will head to Richmond, Va., this Friday for the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament. The top-seeded Minutewomen will face fourth-seeded George Washington in the semifinals starting at 3:30 PM. Second-seed Duquesne will face host and third-seed Richmond at 1 PM on Friday. The Championship game is set for Sunday at 1 PM and will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.