Sophomore Taylor Thornton is one of three NU players on the 2011 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List.Sophomore Taylor Thornton is one of three NU players on the 2011 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List.

Trio of Wildcats Featured on 2011 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List

March 7, 2011

2011 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List Get Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern landed three players on the 48-player 2011 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List, as announced by the Greater Washington Sports Alliance. Junior Shannon Smith, sophomore Taylor Thornton and junior Alex Frank all were named to the list of nominees, with Frank and Smith each earning recognition for the second year in a row.

NU players have brought home the award -- which is presented to the top performer in the sport across all three NCAA divisions -- four times since its inception in 2001. Kristen Kjellman claiming the honor in 2006 and 2007 followed by Hannah Nielsen's back-to-back awards in 2008-09.

All watch list nominees are carefully screened and identified by two Selection Committees, one committee for the male athletes and another committee for the female athletes which are comprised of college coaches. The watch list will eventually be whittled down three more times until the top 10 male and female Tewaaraton Award Finalists are named in May of 2011.

Maryland led all schools with seven selections to the watch list.

The complete watch list for both women's and men's lacrosse is available in PDF format at the top of the page. The 11th annual Tewaaraton Award will be presented on June 2, 2011, at the historical Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Smith, Thornton, Frank and the rest of the second-ranked Wildcats squad looks to continue its unbeaten start to the 2011 campaign in their home-opener at 3 p.m. Friday against California.

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