SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference announced the 2021 all-conference women’s lacrosse teams and individual honors on Tuesday, which were voted on by the league’s five head coaches. Furman’s Hannah Demis and Avery Whitehead were named the SoCon Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively. Meagan Beal was named freshman of the year, while Furman head coach Rachel Whitten claimed coach of the year honors after leading the Paladins to an undefeated conference record and the regular-season title.
 
There are 14 members on the first team and 15 members on the second team due to a tie in the voting. The all-freshman team consists of seven players regardless of position, with one extra spot due to a tie in voting. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes. 

Coastal Carolina and Furman led the way with 11 selections between the first team, second team and the all-freshman team apiece. Mercer totaled seven selections, while Wofford and Delaware State had four and two selections, respectively.
 
Demis, the offensive player of the year, ended the regular season as the conference leader in assists per game (3.07) and points per game (4.53). The senior attack from Roswell, Georgia, recorded 68 points on 22 goals and a conference-leading 46 assists on the season, which is the third-best in NCAA Division I. She scored the second-most points in the conference this year and ranks fifth in Division I with her 3.07 assists per game.
 
Whitehead, the defensive player of the year, is fifth in the SoCon with 1.14 caused turnovers pers game. She also forced 16 turnovers overall, scooped up 19 ground balls and won 32 draws this season. The senior from Memphis, Tennessee, is a two-time SoCon Defensive Player of the Week winner.
 
Beal led the conference with four game-winning goals and tallied 38 points on 35 goals and three assists for the Paladins. The midfielder’s 35 goals rank third in the league. She tallied 22 ground balls, won nine draws and caused seven turnovers. Beal is also a member of the All-SoCon second team and all-freshman squad.
 
Whitten, who is in her seventh year as the Furman head coach, guided the Paladins to an 11-4 overall record, going 4-0 in conference action to clinch the regular-season title and earn the No. 1 overall seed for the SoCon Championship for the first time ever. This season marked Whitten’s career-high overall win percentage of .733 percent.  
 
Joining Demis and Whitehead on the first team are Kyra LaMotte (A), Hannah Dintino (M), Avery McIlwaine (M) and Rachel Sindler (D) giving Furman a league-leading six players of the first team. LaMotte leads the conference with 52 goals on the season. Beal is joined by teammates Regan Lingo (D) and Meghan Deehan (GK) on the second team. Dintino rounded out the Paladins’ all-conference honors as a member of the all-freshman team along with Beal.     
 
Coastal Carolina’s Samantha Courtemanche (A), three-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Week, highlights the all-conference first team for the Chanticleers as the SoCon leader with 71 points this year. The graduate student from Ellicott City, Maryland, scored 38 goals and had 33 assists with a .806 shots-on-goal percentage. Emily D’Orsaneo (D), Anya McSorley (D) and Claire Martell (GK) join Courtemanche on the All-SoCon first team. Martell, a redshirt freshman, led all goalies in the league this season with a 10.39 goals-against average, .457 save percentage and 139 saves, which ranks eighth in the NCAA. 
 
The Chanticleers, who earned the No. 2 seed for the 2021 championship, have the most members earning second-team all-conference honors as Lauren Cremen (A), Kayla Downey (A), Abbey Buchanan (M), Avery Drouin (M) and Sarah Trupp (D) earned second-team honors. Downey and Avery Snyder (M) represent Coastal on the all-freshman team.
 
Mercer, the No. 3 seed for this year’s championship, boasts six representatives on the three postseason teams. The Bears’ Hailey Rhatigan (A), Lily Morin (M) and Emma Pizzo (D) were first-team selections. Rhatigan led the team with 43 points on 33 goals and 10 assists as the conference’s third-leading scorer. Maddi Koury (A) and Sami Van Slyke (D) collected second-team honors as Mercer’s two selections. Koury also garnered an all-freshman team honor along with midfielder Chloe Schaeffer. 
 
Elisabeth Ralph earned all-conference first-team honors for Wofford, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, to round out the 14-member squad. Ralph ranks second in the conference with 3.40 goals per game and scored a conference season-high nine goals on March 31 at Presbyterian, which are tied for the most goals scored in a single game in SoCon history.  
 
On the second team, Ally Furnari (A), Emma Gentile (M) and Hannah Wurzel (D) were the three selected to represent Wofford. Gentile was the only Terrier to be named to the all-freshman team, as she rounded out the seven-member team.
 
Delaware State’s Tamrin Swann (M) and Dachelle Johnson (D) were named to the All-SoCon second team. 
 
The 2021 Southern Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship will take place at Mercer's Five Star Stadium on May 6 and 8 in Macon, Georgia, for the second time after the Bears served as hosts for the inaugural Southern Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship in 2018.
 
The championship match will take place Saturday, May 8, at 12 p.m. and all games will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The tournament winner earns the league’s automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship.