LAKEWOOD, N.J. (May 2, 2010) - The Georgian Court University women’s lacrosse squad, in its fourth year of existence, secured its first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon with a 19-4 defeat of No. 2 Holy Family University in a contest played on the GCU campus. The Lions improve to 17-2 on the season with the victory.

Georgian Court senior goalie, Christine Latteri, earned Tournament MVP honors after tallying seven saves in just over 48 minutes (48:19) for her 16th victory of the year. For the tournament, Latteri denied 20 opponent shots over the two games. The senior ends her collegiate career with a 25-1 record (including postseason) versus conference opponents.

The Tigers (10-7) jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Jennifer James found the back of the net at the 28:50 and 21:09 marks of the first half.

The game took an unfortunate turn for Holy Family at 17:22 of the first half . Holding a slim 2-1 advantage, the Tigers lost goalkeeper Melissa Jenkins for the remainder of the contest with a knee injury. Stephanie McNesby, the 2010 CACC Rookie of the Year as a middie, replaced Jenkins between the pipes.

The injury marked the beginning of the end for Holy Family as Georgian Court barraged the Tigers with 13 unanswered goals for a 14-2 lead.

James would net two more goals for Holy Family in the second half, giving her four scores on the afternoon. Holy Family, in just its second season of existence, advanced to the conference championship game a year removed from a 0-16 campaign. The turnaround was engineered by first-year head coach Sarah Lautenbach.

Juniors Daryl Carr and Ryan McGrath ed GCU with four goals each. Seniors Christine Flaherty(three goals) and Natalie Bermudez (two goals, two assists) compiled multi-point efforts in their final collegiate games.

Bermudez, Laura Housel and McGrath joined Latteri on the CACC All-Tournament Team. The All-Tournament team and results are listed below.

All-Tournament Team
Christine Latteri, Georgian Court – MVP
Natalie Bermudez, Georgian Court
Laura Housel, Georgian Court
Ryan McGrath, Georgian Court
Jamie-Lynn Wallace, Holy Family
Stephanie McNesby, Holy Family
Jennifer James, Holy Family
Kalin Hodel, Philadelphia
Andi Saracco, Philadelphia
Amber Harmon, Wilmington
Elizabeth Case, Wilmington

Semi-Finals, Saturday, May 1 at Georgian Court
#1 Georgian Court 17, #4 Philadelphia 9
#2 Holy Family 12, #3 Wilmington 9

Championship, Sunday, May 2 at Georgian Court
Georgian Court 19, Holy Family 4