ARLINGTON, Va. - Headlining the 2018 VaSID Women's Lacrosse College All-State honors this season are the University of Mary Washington's Kirsten Littlefield and Shenandoah University's Alyson Bittinger as the Player and Rookie of the Year, in that order, while Mary Washington's Caitlin Moore has been named Coach of the Year.
Littlefield, a senior defender for the Eagles, was named the CAC Player of the Year this season, the first defender to do so in the league since 2003, before being named the CAC Female Athlete of the year. This is her third-straight appearance on first team for VaSID All-State, while also being a three-time first-team All-CAC. The past two seasons she was an IWLCA All-American, including first team in 2017. She was tabbed a First-Team All-Chesapeake Region this season, and named Mary Washington's Female Athlete of the Year and Co-Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. On top of helping her squad to three-straight NCAA tournaments, she led the CAC in caused turnovers (31), ranked second in ground balls (47 and fifth in draw controls (83).
Her coach, Caitlin Moore, is earning her second Coach of the Year nod in three seasons after guiding the Eagles to a program record in wins in 2018 with a 17-5 overall tally. Ranking as high as fifth in the IWLCA poll, they finished the year at No. 10 after advancing to the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament for the second time in three seasons. In the USLacrosse final ranking, the Eagles came in at eight. Although Moore found her squad in an early difficulty when her starting goalkeeper fell to injury during the pregame of the season opener, the team rattled off an 11-1 start to the season, along with a perfect 9-0 against Virginia schools.
Bittinger earned a pair of Old Dominion Athletic Conference postseason awards in her first season, being tabbed a defender on second team and named Rookie of the Year. Stepping in at a starting role her first collegiate season, she finished with a team-leading 47 goals and nine assists for 56 points. Her 47 finishes came in tied for fourth in the ODAC, while she went 20-32 on free-position attempts, ranking her third in the league.