NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – On Wednesday afternoon, the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) announced their All-American teams for the 2023 Division III women's lacrosse season. Among the 57 student-athletes honored were a pair of Falcons with
Grace Gormley earning a spot on the First Team and
Rachel Delate claiming a Second Team honor.
For Gormley, Wednesday's First Team All-American honor is the first national accolade of her career. Delate claimed her third-straight All-American honor after earning a First Team nod in 2021 and a Third Team accolade in 2022.
With the honors for Gormley and Delate, the Messiah women's lacrosse program now has 21 All-American accolades in program history with Delate becoming the first player in program history with national honors in three different seasons.
Over the past few weeks, Gormley and Delate have been well decorated with the pair earning First Team All-MAC Commonwealth, Player of the Year (Attacker for Delate and Defender for Gormley) in the Conference, and All-Region honors since the season ended. Additionally, Delate was named the MAC Senior Scholar Athlete for women's lacrosse across both the MAC Commonwealth and MAC Freedom.
Grace Gormley becomes just the third Falcon to earn First Team All-American honors joining Rachel Dirksen in 2012 and
Rachel Delate in 2021. Gormley was named the MAC Commonwealth Defender of the Year two weeks ago after anchoring the Falcons' defensive effort this year. This season, Gormley did a little bit of everything for the Falcons, grabbing 82 draw controls and being a central figure on clears. She did find the back of the cage three times, but her impact on the defensive end was massive. Gormley led the team with 54 caused turnovers and 68 ground balls. Those stellar stats all came while turning the ball over just 19 times on the season. Gormley led the conference with 2.70 caused turnovers per game and ranks 22nd nationally in the stat. Her strong defensive effort has helped the Falcons to a 7.16 goals against average as a team, the 21st lowest mark in the country this season.
For Delate, she becomes the most decorated individual in Messiah women's lacrosse history while claiming her third consecutive All-American honor in 2023. As mentioned, Delate was named First Team in 2021 and Third Team in 2022 by the IWLCA in addition to multiple honors from USA Lacrosse Magazine. In 20 games this season, Delate churned out a team high 100 points with 57 goals and 43 assists. With her 100 points this season, Delate now has two seasons of at least 100 points, the first player in program history to reach that milestone. In 2021, Delate set the program record for points in a season with 123 and followed that up with a 90-point season last year. She finishes her career at Messiah with 313 points, the third-most in program history despite playing just two games in 2020 due to COVID. This season, she tallied a season high 16 points on Mar. 29, against Alvernia with seven goals and nine assists. The 16 points set a new program record for points in a game. Her nine assists were also a single-game program record. There have been eight seasons in program history in which a player has collected at least 90 points, Delate has three of them.
USA Lacrosse Magazine Honors
Back on May 11, USA Magazine announced their All-American teams for the 2023 season. Among the honorees were a trio of Falcons with
Rachel Delate,
Grace Gormley, and
Emma Hagg all earning sports on their All-American teams. Delate claimed a First Team accolade while Gormley earned a spot on the Second Team and Hagg picked up a Third Team honor.
Delate's First Team honor is the third-straight of her career from USA Magazine. The senior claimed First Team accolades in both 2021 and 2022 previously. For Gormley and Hagg, their accolades are the first of their career's from USA Magazine.
Emma Hagg started al 20 games this season for the Falcons. Hagg finished the season with 31 caused turnovers and 35 ground balls while turning the ball over just five times. She also grabbed four draw controls and dished out an assist this season. Hagg elevated her play in the NCAA Tournament, across two games in the Tournament Hagg caused six turnovers and grabbed six ground balls for the Falcons as they advanced to the Second Round.
All three were honored with All-Region accolades from the IWLCA with Gormley and Delate claiming All-American honors from the IWLCA as well.
