June 19, 2002

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. --- On Wednesday, June 19, the Patriot League announced that Villanova senior Sarah DePeters (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit) was named the 2002 women's lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year. DePeters, who graduated in May with a 3.80 grade point average in English, becomes the first Wildcat to earn the honor since Villanova joined the league in 1999.

The senior midfielder and co-captain ended her four-year career by making her third-straight appearance on the Patriot League's second-team after leading the Wildcats to a final 9-7 mark, the best record in the program's 11-year history. Villanova advanced to the Patriot League championship tournament for the second consecutive year ending the conference season with a 4-2 mark, but was eliminated in the semifinal round by American.

In 2002, DePeters scored 32 goals and added nine assists to rank among Wildcat leaders with 41 points. She also led the 'Cats with 69 ground balls to go along with 28 caused turnovers and 21 draw controls. In addition, DePeters recorded the 100th goal of her career on April 10 making her only the third Wildcat in school history to do so.

The four-year starter finished off her impressive career ranking third on the team's career goal-scoring list (114), fourth in points (136) and ninth in assists (22).

For her efforts off the field, she was named to the Verizon Academic All-District II Women's At-Large team for the second straight year and will make her fourth appearance on the Patriot League's spring academic honor roll.