Aug. 5, 2009

CATONSVILLE, Md. - UMass rising junior Jackie Lyons was named to the 2009-10 U.S. Women's Lacrosse Developmental Team after a successful second-round tryout performance this past weekend. The tryouts were held at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County where 24 players were selected for the roster from a pool of 64.

The U.S. Women's National Team is coming off winning Gold at the Federation of International Lacrosse World Cup which was held this past June in the Czech Republic. UMass associate head coach coach Acacia Walker is a member of Team USA giving the Minutewomen two representatives at the highest level of women's lacrosse.

Lyons led UMass in 2009 with 71 points on 44 goals and 27 assists - just three points shy of the single-season mark in program history. Her seven game-winning goals led the league. She was honored as the Atlantic 10 Tournament MVP after helping the Minutewomen win the conference tournament title for a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 25 years.

In 2007, UMass great Kathleen Typadis and assistant coach Sarah Albrecht made the second round of tryouts with Albrecht being selected to the Elite Team.

Rising sophomore Riley Perry was also selected to the second round of tryouts for the U.S. Developmental team, but had to withdraw due to injury. Perry started all 19 games of the season on defense with 16 groundballs, 12 draw controls and four caused turnovers. The rookie helped the UMass defense posted one of the best goals-against-averages in the Atlantic 10 allowing just 8.11 per game. The Minutewomen allowed 10-or-fewer goals on seven different occasions thanks in part to Riley's play in the back.

UMass has had five previous representatives on the U.S. National Team and three on either the U.S. Development or Elite squads. Marge Anderson '82 and Lisa Griswold-Lindley '87 both played on the National Team as did former UMass head coach Francesca Den Hartog McClellan.

Anderson was a member of the National Team from 1981-90. She scored the winning goal in sudden death overtime to lead the U.S. team to a gold medal at the 1989 World Cup and was the leading scorer of the 1986 World Cup when the U.S. won the silver medal.

Griswold-Lindley was a member of the 1989 gold medalist team. She was a two-time All-American at UMass earning second-team honors in 1986 and first-team honors in 1987.

Den Hartog McClellan played from 1981-89 and served as an assistant coach for the U.S. team in 1990. She was the team's high scorer and youngest member of the 1982 squad. During her time on the National Team, she helped the U.S. to gold medals in the 1982 and 1989 World Cups and silver at the 1986 Cup.

Assistant coaches Elaine Jones (1994-95), Jill Pearsall (1996-97) and Albrecht (2007-08) along with Walker have each been members of either the U.S. Development or Elite teams.

Tryouts for each team are held annually with the exception of the Elite team during a World Cup year. In that instance, players selected to the Elite team play for 23 months - from the October selection month through USA Team trials in August the calendar year following the World Cup.