2019 IWLCA DIVISION III ALL-REGION TEAMS
MINNEAPOLIS -- For the second straight season, Augsburg University women's lacrosse defender/midfielder
Christina Nelson (SR, Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS) was named to the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Division III All-Great Lakes Region Team, this year as a first-team selection, it was announced on Monday.
The honor is the latest in a tremendous career for Nelson, who became the first player in the six-year history of the Augsburg women's lacrosse program to earn
All-Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference First Team honors all four years of her career.
Last year, she joined teammate Marissa Guillou as the first Auggies to ever earn All-IWLCA Great Lakes Region honors, as both were second-team selections. She also earned MWLC Defensive Player of the Week honors three times in her career.
Nelson cemented her status as one of the best players in school history by having another outstanding all-around season. As Augsburg's primary draw-control specialist, she
led the MWLC for the second year in a row with 133 draw controls, breaking her single-season school record of 111 set last year.
Among NCAA Division III players in overall statistics (as of May 19), Nelson ranks 13th nationally in draw controls per-game with a 7.82 average.Â
Nelson also broke her old single-season school record for caused turnovers with 47 this year, ranking seventh in the MWLC in the category. She was the leader of an Augsburg defense that produced 284 caused turnovers, a 15.78 per-game average that ranks sixth-best among NCAA Division III teams nationally (as of May 19). Her 57 ground balls were 11th-most among MWLC players. Offensively, Nelson set personal-bests of 13 goals and six assists for 19 points in 2019. She had double-digit draw-control totals seven times in 2019, including single-game school records of 15 twice this year. She also had three-plus caused turnovers in eight games and three-plus ground balls in 12 games.
In her 71-game Augsburg career, Nelson holds school records with 290 draw controls, 176 caused turnovers and 201 ground balls, while scoring 34 goals with eight assists for 42 points.
The national active career leader in caused turnovers among NCAA Division III players, Nelson's 176 caused turnovers are currently 15th-most in NCAA Division III history.
A communication major with a 3.5536 grade-point average, Nelson has earned MWLC All-Academic Team honors each of the last three years, and should do so again this season when it is announced next month. She was named to the
IWLCA/Zag Sports Division III Academic Honor Roll last year.
Under sixth-year coachÂ
Kathryn Knippenberg, Augsburg finished 10-8 overall and 10-3 in MWLC play in 2019. The Auggies qualified for the MWLC postseason playoffs for the fourth straight year since joining the conference. In Augsburg's six years of women's lacrosse, the Auggies are 59-39 overall, including a 34-10 record in its four seasons of MWLC play.
(NOTE: Story includes information taken from Augsburg's 2019 All-MWLC release.)
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