Former Bryant two-sport All-American Maureen Burns (Derry, NH), named the NCAA Woman of the Year by the Northeast-10 Conference, attended the NCAA awards dinner over the weekend in Indianapolis, IN. A first-team all-conference pick in the sports of field hockey and women's lacrosse, the NE-10 lacrosse Defensive Player of the Year graduated from Bryant this past May.

Burns was the Bryant Student Athlete Advisory Committee Co-Chair for the 2005-2006 school year, as well as the Make-A-Wish Fundraising Committee Chair. She coordinated the Adopt-A-Family program and the Thanksgiving Food Drive. She served on the Campus Diversity Council and the Campus Recognition Awards Committee.

On the field hockey team, Burns was a member of Bryant's 2002 and 2003 NCAA Championship semi-finalist squads. In both those years, the Bulldogs were the Northeast-10 Conference Regular Season Champions. She captained the field hockey team in 2005 and was named a National Field Hockey Coaches' Association Second Team All-America in 2004 and 2005. She was named First Team All-Conference in the Northeast-10 on three occasions and was the Northeast-10 Freshman of the Year in 2002.

During this past spring, Burns traded in her field hockey stick for a lacrosse stick and secured the defense for the Bulldogs. She was named First Team All-America in 2006 by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association. She led her team to back-to-back Northeast-10 Tournament title games in 2003 and 2004. In addition, she was a three-time Northeast-10 All Conference selection in lacrosse and captained the lacrosse team during her senior year and was named the Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Burns was also named the Bryant University Female Athlete of the Year.

The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors senior student-athletes for their cumulative collegiate achievements in service, leadership, athletics and academics.

Effective this past year, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA) made significant changes to the nomination process. Upon receiving nominations from its member institutions, each conference selects a conference nominee based on collective achievements in service, leadership, athletics and academics.

All conference nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee. The selection committee selects the top 10 winners in each division. From among those 30 honorees, the selection committee determines the top three in each division. Finally, the members of the CWA voted from among the top nine to determine the 2006 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Those top 10 honorees from Divisions I, II and III were honored at a dinner in Indianapolis last Saturday.