PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 15, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- FieldTurf announced the winners of its NCAA Lacrosse awards for the 2007 season today. Award-winners were named in all three divisions for Men's and Women's Lacrosse. This year's winners are:
* NCAA Division 1 Coach of the Year (Men's Lacrosse):
Jeff Tambroni (Cornell)
* NCAA Division 1 Coach of the Year (Women's Lacrosse):
Julie Myers (Virginia)
* NCAA Division 2 Coach of the Year (Men's Lacrosse):
Mike Pressler (Bryant College)
* NCAA Division 2 Coach of the Year (Women's Lacrosse):
Ginny Martino (West Chester)
* NCAA Division 3 Coach of the Year (Men's Lacrosse):
Jim Berkman (Salisbury)
* NCAA Division 3 Coach of the Year (Women's Lacrosse):
Missy Foote (Middlebury)
* NCAA Team of the Year: Cornell University
JEFF TAMBRONI, Cornell Big Red (Division 1 -- men): As a player, as a coach, and as an ambassador for North America's fastest growing sport, Jeff Tambroni knows a lot about winning in Lacrosse. As Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse at Cornell University, Jeff Tambroni has led his program's return to prominence on the national stage. In only five years at the helm, his players have earned a combined 13 All-American honors. Tambroni led the 2007 team to a Final Four Appearance and its fifth Ivy League Championship in a row, with a 6-0 record. He also guided them to a 15-1 overall record, and a 1st place national ranking.
JULIE MYERS, Virginia Cavaliers (Division 1 -- women): Virginia Head Coach Julie Myers, the 2007 IWLCA South Regional Coach of the Year, helped Virginia advance to the NCAA finals for the eighth time in her career in 2007. In each of her 12 seasons at the helm of the Cavaliers, Myers has guided her team to the NCAA Championships -- a feat matched by no other Division I coach in the same period. In addition, the 2007 Cavaliers won the ACC Tournament for the second consecutive year and for the third time in four years. Virginia has played in the title game of the ACC Tournament in 8 of the 11 years it has been contested -- more than any other team in the conference. It is a remarkable consistency matched by no other Division I coach in the country.
MIKE PRESSLER, Bryant Bulldogs (Division 2 -- men): Mike Pressler began his second year as the Head Men's Lacrosse Coach at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island in the spring of 2007. During the 2007 season, Bryant tied a school record with 10 consecutive wins including an undefeated 9-0 mark in the Northeast-10. Among those wins was an overtime victory against defending national champion Le Moyne, snapping the Dolphin's 70-game win streak. The Bryant Bulldogs, ranked as high as No. 4 nationally in 2007, have gained the No. 1 regional ranking for the entire month of April.
GINNY MARTINO, West Chester Golden Rams (Division 2 -- women): Heading into her 10th season on the sidelines, West Chester University Women's Lacrosse Head Coach Ginny Martino has built the Golden Rams' program into a perennial national power over the past decade, methodically orchestrating one of the most impressive runs in college athletics. Last spring, Martino guided her charges back to the NCAA Division II championship game for the third consecutive season after capturing the school's third straight conference title and 18th overall. The Rams' 18-3 record equaled the program's top performance from 2004.
JIM BERKMAN, Salisbury Sea Gulls (Division 3 -- men): Yet another impressive season by Jim Berkman and the Sea Gulls as Jim's squad posted a 23-0-0 record in 2007. With another NCAA D-III national championship in 2007, the team's total number of national titles is now 7. Year after year, the Sea Gulls are picked to be the top team in NCAA D-III Lacrosse and Jim Berkman is a huge reason why. In 2006, Jim was the winner of the 2006 FieldTurf D-III Lacrosse Coach of the Year Award -- and with good reason. Salisbury University also holds a NCAA record 69-game win streak (2003-2006).
MISSY FOOTE, Middlebury Panthers (Division 3 -- women): Three members of the Middlebury College Women's Lacrosse team earned All-American honors -- to no one's surprise. Middlebury recently completed another impressive season, advancing to the NCAA semifinals and winning the NESCAC Championship with a record of 16-2. Head Coach Missy Foote is now in her 31st year on the Middlebury athletic staff and her 27th year as head coach of women's lacrosse. She has led the Panthers to 14 straight appearances in the NCAA semifinals, along with five NESCAC Championships, and has an overall record of 319-72-1.
CORNELL BIG RED (NCAA Team of the Year): Cornell's 2007 season proved to be one of the greatest in recent years as the Big Red capped an undefeated regular season (13-0) with the program's first trip to the national semifinal since the 1988 campaign. Cornell, the fourth seed in the NCAA tournament, held the top spot in both national polls for the final nine weeks of the season and finished the year with a 15-1 record, one victory shy of the school record (16 in 1976) and eighth all-time in NCAA history for wins in a season. The Big Red finished its Ivy League schedule with a perfect 6-0 record, winning its second outright league title in the past four years and garnering at least a share of the conference crown for the past five seasons.
More than 200 institutions in North America play and/or practice lacrosse on their FieldTurf field(s) including Syracuse University, Naval Academy, Yale University, U.S. Military Academy, New York Institute of Technology, Brown University, Rutgers Preparatory School, Fairleigh Dickenson University, University of Virginia, and Carnegie Mellon University, among many others.
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