Penn women's lacrosse dominates year end awards

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For the past decade, the athletes of Penn women’s lacrosse have collectively been the stars of the Ivy League. So it should come as no surprise that this year, the Quakers’ two biggest leaders got officially recognized as such.

This week, Penn seniors Tory Bensen and Meg Markham were named Ivy League Attacker and Defender of the Year, respectively.

Coming off of a breakout campaign last season, Bensen has stepped up her game even further throughout the 2015 campaign.

Bensen has been a dominant force with her scoring all season, leading the Quakers with 46 goals. That mark is 20 more than that of the next closest Penn goal scorer, junior Iris Williamson. And she has done it efficiently, notching goals on an impressive 51.1 percent of her total shots.

It is the first time in the program’s history that a Penn attacker has taken home the year-end honor.

While it was Bensen’s first time receiving such high recognition, it was the second consecutive year that Markham took home Defender of the Year honors.

Markham led Penn’s traditionally dominant defensive unit throughout the season, leading the Ancient Eight in turnovers with 40 (more than double the second-best total of 19). She has also provided a strong presence with her ability to and win draws.

Bensen and Markham join teammates Lucy Ferguson, Nina Corcoran, Lely DeSimone and Taylor Foussadier as Penn’s All-Ivy selections for the year.

Despite the Penn’s impressive depth of talent, the Quakers’ road to another Ivy tournament title will not be an easy one. Having already lost to No. 1-seed Princeton, the Quakers enter the tourney as a No. 2-seed despite their copious year end Ivy awards.

The Quakers will likely get their chance to avenge their loss to the Tigers at the tournament, which starts this Friday.