The IWLCA announced on Thursday that the Lee University lacrosse team received the prestigious IWLCA Division II Community Awareness Team Award for the second consecutive year.
The Lady Flames earned the repeat honor as they continued to support the Lee University campus community as well as numerous acts of service in the local community. As Lee headed into its 2022-23 season, the team had an incredible opportunity to host a lacrosse clinic in England, teaching lacrosse to the youth at the Oxton Lacrosse Club.
During the Fall, the team participated in the Color Run at Stuart Elementary, lending a helping hand during Suicide Prevention Week, played baseball with Special Needs kids for the Bradley County Miracle League, and assisted in helping all Freshmen and Transfers move into Lee on Helping Hands Day. In November, the Lady Flames worked the Flame Fair event during Homecoming week and helped greet people in the community, served food, and promoted Lee Lacrosse at the Simply Bank Grand Opening. Operation Christmas Child gave the Lady Flames an opportunity to pack Christmas boxes for the community. The team also spent several days at Stuart Elementary painting walls, cleaning the building, taking down decorations, setting up for future events and organizing closets at the end of January.
"Community service is a huge part of our team culture, and we are extremely honored to be recognized by the IWLCA for our team's efforts for the second year in a row," said Lee lacrosse assistant coach Megan Smith. "Getting to spend time as a team while helping others is always time well spent and serving a community that supports us greatly on the field is an honor! We are thankful for all the lives we can impact and in turn have impacted us greatly as people and as a program."
Coach Smith is also instrumental in serving the Lee Athletic department as the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Administrator while senior midfielder Audrey Dutton serves as the SAAC President.
Emma McLaughlin of George Washington University, Kate Winstanley of the University of Alabama Huntsville, and Sarah Labovitz from Washington & Jefferson College are the 2023 IWLCA Community Awareness Individual Award Winners. East Carolina University (D1) Wilkes University (D3), and Warner University (NAIA) joined the Lady Flames as the 2023 Team honorees.