ITHACA, N.Y. -- Senior Tissy O'Connor and sophomore Jessi Steinberg were named to the All-Ivy League women's lacrosse first team, headlining four Cornell players to capture postseason accolades on Tuesday afternoon. In addition, junior Libby Johnson was named second-team All-Ivy, while sophomore Caroline Helmer earned honorable mention honors. The All-Ivy team is voted on by the conference's eight head coaches.
Steinberg, a two-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, led Cornell is goals (38), points (40) and draw controls (29) as a sophomore and was a unanimous first-team pick. She averaged four goals and three draw controls per game in Ivy play, and her 28 goals in seven league contests was more than three times any other player. She scored at least three goals in each league game with six against both Columbia and Yale. In all, Steinberg had at least three goals in eight contests. She tied a school record with eight draw controls in a single game to go along with her five scores in a loss to nationally ranked Hofstra. Steinberg added 11 ground balls and six caused turnovers on the year.
O'Connor, a first-team All-Ivy pick as a junior, became the first Cornell player to capture consecutive honors on the top team since Courtney Farrell and Katherine Simmons in 2007-08. She ranks among the team leaders in draws (20), ground balls (18) and caused turnovers (17), and also sits fourth on the school's career draw controls list (98). O'Connor had four caused turnovers, two draws and two ground balls against Ivy champion Penn, won five ground balls and caused two turnovers against Syracuse and won four draws against Columbia and Harvard.
Johnson posted 17 goals and a team-best 12 assists while starting all 13 games. She added 11 draw control wins and six ground balls on the year. Johnson helped the Big Red snap a 22-year winless streak against Princeton with two goals and two assists and scored the game-winning goal against Yale to put Cornell into the inaugural Ivy tournament. Overall, Johnson posted 11 multi-point contests, including five with three or more points. SHe had three assists against nationally ranked Hofstra.
Helmer proved herself to be one of the top defenders in the Ancient Eight as a rookie, ranking among the team leaders with 23 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers. She set career highs with three caused turnovers against Rutgers and Syracuse and also caused two vs. Columbia and Dartmouth. Helmer was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after holding SU's Tee Ladouceur, one of the nation's top 10 scorers, without a point on just one shot. She also limited Yale's Devon Rhodes to one goal while winning nine ground balls and causing four turnovers in the final two games prior to the Ivy League tournament.
