Women's lacrosse player Gina Newsome has been named the UNE Athlete of the Month for March 2012.
Newsome got her career off to a very quick start after one date in February, notching 26 goals and 19 assists over eight games in March -- an average of 5.6 points per contest. She tallied five or more points in six of those outings. The 26 goals came on just 39 shot attempts, good for a conversion rate of 67 percent. Newsome also made 10 of 13 free-position tries in the stretch.
The first-year had a record-tying day in Big Blue's win at Husson, when she equalled the program's single-game points mark (12, set by Ashley MacDonald in 2008) after registering seven goals and five assists. It only took her nine shots to reach the goal total that afternoon. Newsome received both the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Offensive Player/Rookie honors after the effort, as well as ECAC Division III New England Offensive Player of the Week.
Newsome led the team in points for two other games, with seven (2-5) against UMass Dartmouth and six (3-3) at Roger Williams.
Her assist total (19) in the month of March alone would be good for the sixth-best single-season amount in program history, and Newsome enters April just six helpers short of setting the new school standard.
