Duke field hockey goalkeeper earns academic accolades

Duke field hockey goalkeeper Lauren Blazing received first team Capital One Academic All-America distinction for the second consecutive year, as announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

The rising redshirt senior from Durham was one of 15 student-athletes selected to the Division I Women’s At-Large First Team. She is the only student-athlete in program history to garner Academic All-America honors. In addition, Blazing is just the seventh student-athlete at Duke to receive Academic All-America recognition as a member of an at-large team.

During the 2014 season, Blazing earned National Field Hockey Coaches Association second team All-America accolades to go along with first team All-South Region and All-ACC honors. Her .786 save percentage led all ACC goalkeepers for the fall, while her 1.19 goals against average ranked second in the conference.

Now a two-time Academic All-America honoree, Blazing holds a 3.99 GPA as a cultural anthropology and political science major.

Wake Forest: Wake Forest sophomore Will Craig earned his second and third First Team All-America honors, as he was recognized by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and D1Baseball on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Craig becomes the first Demon Deacon to receive First Team All-America from three different outlets in a season since Billy Masse was honored by the ABCA, Baseball America and Sporting News in 1988.

The first baseman on the All-America First Team, Craig finished his season with a .382 average, 20 doubles, 13 homers and 58 RBIs, along with 41 walks and just 24 strikeouts.

He was also a Louisville Slugger All-American, the ACC Player of the Year, a Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist, Midseason Player of the Year and on the Golden Spikes Award watch list.

Craig is spending the summer in the Cape Cod League with the Chatham Anglers and will be a junior at Wake Forest for the 2016 campaign.

Duke: Duke University teammates Leona Maguire and Celine Boutier each won their first two match play contests Thursday to advance to the final 16 round of action at the Ladies’ British Open Amateur played at the Portstewart Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Maguire, the stroke play champion and No. 1 seed, only had to play 27 holes Thursday as she won 8&6 over Martina Edberg in her morning match and then cruised to a 4&3 win over Camille Chevalier in the afternoon. Maguire, who hails from Cavan, Ireland, will next take on Joanna Charlton on Friday.

A native of Montrouge, France, Boutier totaled a 5&4 win over Rachel Rossel in the morning and then took down Elinor Haag easily in the afternoon winning 5&4. Boutier will next face Doris Chen in the final 16. In the 2014 NCAA Championship, Chen just beat Boutier to claim the NCAA individual title by two strokes.

Duke rising sophomore Lisa Maguire dropped her first round match to Charlton by a 4&3 ledger.

Duke: Three current members of the Duke women’s lacrosse team and three former Blue Devils will be among the 108 players taking part in the 2015-16 U.S. women’s national team tryouts this weekend at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Current Blue Devils Maddy Acton, Maddie Crutchfield and Kelsey Duryea will join recent graduates Erin Tenneson and Katie Trees and 2011 graduate Sarah Bullard at the three-day tryout Friday through Sunday.

After the weekend of evaluation, about 36 to 40 players will be selected to the 2015-16 U.S. women’s national team, which will train leading up to the 2017 Federation of International Lacrosse Women’s World Cup in Guildford, England. Ultimately, 18 players will represent the United States as the team goes for its third consecutive and eighth overall world title.

This story was originally published June 11, 2015 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Duke field hockey goalkeeper earns academic accolades."