Vikings finish 11-7; win third straight undefeated CCIW regular season championship; Anne Hopkins and Olivia Mayer repeat as CCIW Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year; another four Vikings earn all-conference recognition; C.J. Durham named CCIW Coach of the Year
 
The 2017 season marked the fifth in a row that the Augustana women's lacrosse team went undefeated through its entire conference regular season slate. First-year Coach C.J. Durham guided the Vikings to an overall record of 11-7 and a 6-0 mark in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin—the program's third consecutive undefeated CCIW title, coming on the heels of a pair of perfect Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference seasons in 2013 and 2014. Augustana is now 36-0 all-time in conference regular season play.
 
Seniors Anne Hopkins (Mother McAuley HS, Chicago, Ill.) and Olivia Mayer (Libertyville HS, Green Oaks, Ill.) both closed out tremendous careers by repeating as the CCIW Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively. Each also received first team Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association All-Region honors. Joining the pair on the all-league first team were junior goalie Analia Fowler (York HS, Elmhurst, Ill.) and senior defender Hanna Gobeille (Sandburg HS, Orland Park, Ill.). Sophomore midfielder Carla Bennett (Marian Catholic HS, South Holland, Ill.) and sophomore defender Abbie Hoeg (Minooka HS, Channahon, Ill.) were second team All-CCIW selections. In addition, Durham was named the league's Coach of the Year.
 
A short-handed Viking team opened the season with four straight setbacks on the road. Playing without Mayer—who was wrapping up her senior season of basketball—and Hopkins—who was finishing an internship in Chicago—Augustana lost at Whittier, Occidental and Pomona-Pitzer. In the first game back for the duo, the Vikings fell at Concordia (Wis.).
 
Buoyed by the return of their senior standouts, the Vikings reeled off nine wins in their next 10 games. After downing Monmouth, Albion and Aurora, they fell to powerful Wittenberg in a neutral site game in Greencastle, Indiana, but rebounding with six straight CCIW victories. Highlights were overtime wins over Illinois Wesleyan (12-11) at Thorson-Lucken Field and at Carthage (8-7), with Mayer tallying the game-winner in both contests.
 
The regular season wrapped up with a pair of non-conference tilts at home. Colorado College broke open a close game late to win 20-12 in a torrential downpour on April 29, but Augustana bounced back the next day to defeat Hamline 18-8 in just a regular downpour.
 
The Vikings opened CCIW Tournament play by scoring a season high in goals in a 19-13 semifinal win over North Central. In the championship game, Illinois Wesleyan outscored Augustana 4-1 over the last 12:10 to hand the Vikings a 14-12 setback—their first ever in 46 conference regular season and tournament games.
 
Hopkins led Augustana with 63 goals, 41 assists and 104 points this year. Her average of 7.43 points per game ranked fourth in the nation and broke Hilary Kargl's previous school record of 6.67, set in 2012 and again in 2015. Hopkins finished her career second all-time for the Vikings in goals (226) and points (345) and third in assists (119). In addition, she ranked in Augustana's all-time top ten in ground balls (5th with 105) and caused turnovers (7th with 61).
 
Mayer set school single-season records with 43 caused turnovers and 69 ground balls this year. She was second on the team with 53 goals, 30 assists, 83 points and 69 draw controls. Mayer is the program's career record holder in caused turnovers (119) and ground balls per game (2.33), ranks second in total ground balls (170) and draw controls (171), third in goals (157), fourth in points (234) and assists (77) and 10th in games played (73).
 
Gobeille, a two-year starter, finished second on the team, with 25 caused turnovers this year and also grabbed 20 ground balls.
 
Other leaders for Durham offensively included sophomores Bennett, Bailey Aasen (Park HS, Cottage Park, Minn.) and Christina McCabe (Maine South GS, Park Ridge, Ill.). Bennett had 20 goals, 11 assists, led the team with 75 draw controls and ranked second with 43 ground balls. Aasen scored 22 goals and dished out seven assists. McCabe had 22 goals and four assists.
 
In addition to Gobeille, leaders on defense included Hoeg, who had 18 ground balls and nine caused turnovers and Fowler, who logged 690 minutes between the pipes, posting a 7-5 record with a 10.17 goals against average and a save percentage of .429.
 
2017 CCIW WOMEN'S LACROSSE STANDINGS

School	Conf	Overall
AUGUSTANA	6-0	11-7
Illinois Wesleyan	5-1	14-6
Carthage	4-2	11-6
North Central	3-3	10-8
Dubuque	2-4	9-8
Elmhurst	1-5	2-15
Carroll	0-6	2-15

 
2017 CCIW Tournament
Wednesday, May 3
#1 AUGUSTANA 19, #4 North Central 13
#2 Illinois Wesleyan 12, #3 Carthage 6
 
Saturday, May 6
Illinois Wesleyan 14, AUGUSTANA 12
 
2017 AUGUSTANA SUPERLATIVES
IWLCA ALL-GREAT LAKES REGION: 1st team –Anne Hopkins, A; Olivia Mayer, M
ALL-CCIW: 1st team -  Anne Hopkins, A; Olivia Mayer, M; Hanna Gobeille, D; Analia Fowler, G; 2nd team – Carla Bennett, M; Abbie Hoeg, D
CCIW OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Anne Hopkins.
CCIW DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Olivia Mayer.
CCIW COACH OF THE YEAR: C.J. Durham
CCIW ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Bailey Aasen, Lauren Amelia, Anne Hopkins, Scooter Lopez, Emily Lucnik, Olivia Mayer, Samantha Wright
CCIW PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Anne Hopkins (Offense) 3/27 & 4/24; Olivia Mayer (Offense) 4/10 & 4/17
TEAM AWARDS: MVP – Olivia Mayer; Most Improved – Bailey Aasen; Sportsmanship Award – Lauren Amella
 
NCAA TEAM TOP 25 STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Free position percentage - .544, 7th
 
NCAA INDIVIDUAL TOP 50 STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Assists – 41, Anne Hopkins, 25th... Assists per game – 2.93, Anne Hopkins, 9th; 2.00, Olivia Mayer, 50th... Caused turnovers per game – 2.87, Olivia Mayer, 16th... Goals – 63, Anne Hopkins, 29th... Goals per game – 4.50, Anne Hopkins, 8th... Ground balls per game – 4.60, Olivia Mayer, 14th... Points – 104, Anne Hopkins, 10th; 83, Olivia Mayer, 40th... Points per game – 7.43, Anne Hopkins, 4th; 5.53, Olivia Mayer, 21st
 
CCIW TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS: Shot percentage – .556 (74-133)
 
CCIW INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS LEADERS: Goals per game – 3.80, Anne Hopkins... Assists per game – 3.20, Anne Hopkins... Points per game – 7.00, Anne Hopkins... Draw Controls per game – 4.17, Carla Bennett
 
SCHOOL RECORDS
Singe Game – Individual
None
 
Single Game – Team
Most Turnovers – 35 vs. Colorado College, 4/29/17
 
Season – Individual
Points per game – 7.43, Anne Hopkins... Ground balls – 69, Olivia Mayer... Ground balls per game – 4.60, Olivia Mayer... Caused turnovers – 43, Olivia Mayer... Caused turnovers per game – 2.87, Olivia Mayer
 
Season – Team
None
 
Career – Individual
Ground balls per game – 2.33, Olivia Mayer... Caused turnovers – 119, Olivia Mayer... Caused turnover per game – 1.63, Olivia Mayer... Man-up goals – 7, Anne Hopkins & Olivia Mayer... Man-down goals – 2, Bailey Aasen