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April 16, 2003

Rebecca Copeland is 18th in the country in goals per game.

WASHINGTON — Continuing its successful season, the American University women’s lacrosse team continued to be ranked in six of the seven team categories by the NCAA for the third consecutive week. Sophomores Gina Riitano (Schenectady, N.Y./Albany Academy for Girls) and Rebecca Copeland (Webster, N.Y./Webster) are ranked in individual categories.

The Eagles are fourth nationally in draw controls with 13.23 per game. AU is also fifth in scoring offense with 12.69 goals per game. The Eagles are 12th in scoring margin (+2.38), 13th in ground balls per game (29.77), and 14th in win percentage (.692) and caused turnovers (12.0).

Individually, Riitano is 15th in the country in ground balls (3.92 per game) and 17th in draw controls (2.85 per game). After one week out of the national charts, Copeland returns at 18th in goals per game with 2.69.

American’s next match is April 23 against Johns Hopkins at 4 p.m. The Eagles have clinched the Patriot League regular season title and will host the tournament on April 26-27.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, is in its second year of membership in the Patriot League. Since joining the Patriot League, the University has captured league championships in men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.