NE10 40th Anniversary Home Page
After dominating the Northeast-10 Conference over the first four years of its program history, as well as the first four years the NE10 sponsored a women's lacrosse championship, Stonehill College was finally able to reach the pinnacle of national success in 2003 with its first of two NCAA Division II National Championships over a three-year span.
In 2003, Stonehill quickly put a pair of season-opening losses to Division I programs in the rear view mirror on its way to a fifth-straight NE10 regular season championship. The team went undefeated in conference play with a 9-0 mark, stretching its NE10 regular season winning streak to 28 games while improving its NE10 regular season record to 41-1 since starting the program in 1999. Stonehill kept the momentum going through the NE10 Tournament and with an 18-2 triumph over third-seeded Bryant, claiming a fourth consecutive NE10 Tournament title.
Senior Katie Lambert, the current head coach at Stonehill and a 2010 NE10 Hall of Fame inductee, earned NE10 Player of the Year honors for the third-straight year and headlined nine All-Conference selections for the squad under the direction of NE10 Coach of the Year Michael Daley. Erin Acone, a 2018 NE10 Hall of Fame inductee, was named the NE10 Freshman of the Year.
Stonehill was selected as host of the 2003 NCAA Division II Championships and used that home field advantage to notch a one-goal victory over C.W. Post (14-13) in the semifinal round, led by six goals from Acone. In the national championship, Colby Confer scored the game-winning goal with 11 seconds remaining in regulation, lifting Stonehill to its first National Championship with a 9-8 victory over Longwood. Lambert, Acone, Confer, goaltender Carissa Medeiros and defender Kate Sarkissian all earned All-America honors. Lambert was selected as the IWLCA Division II Player of the Year, while Medeiros was honored as IWLCA Division II Goalkeeper of the Year.
Stonehill concluded the season with a 17-2 record, shaking off the two early season losses on its spring break trip to California, with 17-straight wins. Stonehill outscored its opposition, 287-105, posting three shutouts, all coming consecutively to reverse the 0-2 start. Lambert led the way with 79 points, netting 50 goals, while Confer tallied a team-high 54 markers and Melissa Gross dished out a team-best 32 assists. Medeiros recorded a 6.17 goals against average. Lambert capped her career as the program's first 300-point scorer, finishing her Hall of Fame career with 220 goals and 106 assists for 326 points – which still shares the program record to this day.
Stonehill would go on to continue its NE10 dominance throughout the 2000s, stretching its regular season Conference winning streak to 79 games before it was broken in 2009, finishing the decade with a 95-2 NE10 regular season mark and adding the 2005 NCAA Division II National Championship to its haul of 19 NE10 titles over that span, sweeping the regular season and tournament nine times.
In addition to Lambert and Acone's spot in the NE10 Hall of Fame, they are joined in the Stonehill Athletic Hall of Fame by Daley, Confer, Medeiros and Lauren Stone from the 2003 squad.
2003 Stonehill Women's Lacrosse Team
Erin Acone
Meaghan Carey
Colette Carpenter
Caitlin Clements
Colby Confer
Stephanie Dane
Sarah Donaghey
Kelsi Doscher
Jill Dudra
Courtney Duggan
Melissa Gross*
Katie Lambert*
Jenny McGrath
Kate McPike*
Carissa Medeiros
Brenna Newfell
Kate Sarkissian
Katie Shannon
Lauren Stone
Michael Daley, Head Coach
Katelyn Leonard, Assistant Coach
Ginny McCauley, Assistant Coach
Stonehill Women's Lacrosse Links of Note:
