SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Coastal Carolina swept the Southern Conference women’s lacrosse players of the week honors for the third time this season as Kayla Downey and Claire Martell have been named the Southern offensive and defensive players of the week, respectively, for all competition from April 20-26.
 
Downey claimed her first player of the week honor as she tallied 12 points on four goals and eight assists in Coastal Carolina’s two games last week. In each game, she found the back of the net two times with four assists. The redshirt freshman from Babylon, New York, was one of six Chanticleers who scored in the team’s 13-12 overtime win over No. 9 Jacksonville on Friday, helping lead Coastal Carolina to its first win against a top-10 team. Downey fired all three of her shots on-goal and scooped up two ground balls. In the game at Stetson, she scored the first goal with 19:07 left in the first half then tied the game at 2-2 with 16:43 left until the half. She shot .667 with five of her six shots on-goal. Downey is ranked third in the SoCon with 1.75 assists per game and fourth with 3.81 points per game.
 
Martell recorded 25 saves, 13 ground balls and two caused turnovers for the Chanticleers in the games against Jacksonville and Stetson. She had a career-high 14 saves against the ninth-ranked Dolphins and followed with a career-high 10 ground balls in Coastal’s 13-8 win over Stetson. The redshirt freshman from Babylon, New York, earned her second player of the week honor of the season and has had double-digit saves in nine of 16 games this season. Martell leads the conference with a 10.39 goals against average, 2.31 ground balls per game and a .457 save percentage. 
 
Coastal Carolina (10-6, 2-1 SoCon) is set to host Delaware State on Friday, April 30, for a 4 p.m. draw. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and is the Chanticleers’ last regular-season game before the 2021 SoCon Women’s Lacrosse Championship. Mercer will host this year’s championship in Macon, Georgia. The semifinal games are scheduled for May 6, while the championship game will be played on May 8.
 
Other offensive nominees:  Hannah Demis (Furman), Maddi Koury (Mercer) and Ally Furnari (Wofford).
 
Other defensive nominees: Kaylee Colman (Furman), Lily Morin (Mercer) and Tori Saylor (Wofford).
 
2021 Southern Conference Women’s Lacrosse Players of the Week
 
Offense
Feb. 16    Kyra LaMotte, Furman
Feb. 23    Samantha Courtemanche, Coastal Carolina
March 2   Samantha Courtemanche, Coastal Carolina
March 9   Monica Manley, Coastal Carolina
March 16 Lily Morin, Mercer
March 23  Lauren Cremen, Coastal Carolina
March 30  Elisabeth Ralph, Wofford
April 6       Elisabeth Ralph, Wofford
April 12    Ally Furnari, Wofford
April 20     Samantha Courtemanche, Coastal Carolina
April 27   Kayla Downey, Coastal Carolina



Defense
Feb. 16    Lauren Farber, Furman
Feb. 23    Emily D’Orsaneo, Coastal Carolina
March 2   Claire Martell, Coastal Carolina
March 9   Avery Whitehead, Furman
March 16 Meghan Deehan, Furman
March 23 Meghan Deehan, Furman
March 30 Avery McIlwaine, Furman 
April 6      Regan Lingo, Furman
April 12    Kelsey Thompson, Wofford
April 20    Avery Whitehead, Furman
April 27    Claire Martell, Coastal Carolina