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Dirksen Honored As National "Rookie Of The Week"
Rachel Dirksen

Grantham, PA — Messiah freshman attack Rachel Dirksen was named the womenslacrosse.com NCAA Division III Rookie of the Week, the website announced late Tuesday.

Dirksen won 15 draw controls, dished out five assists and scored four goals in the Falcons’ two wins during the week, as Messiah dispatched Arcadia University by a 19-9 score before winning at FDU-Florham by a 13-12 count last Saturday.

Dirksen was a key player in the Devils’ first conference loss since May of 2007, scoring all three of her tallies in the first half to keep things close in a 7-6 lead at the intermission. She then assisted two of the Falcons’ final three scores, helping the team come back from a 10-12 deficit in the final 3:48.

Messiah’s leading goal scorer on the season, Dirksen joined Defensive Player of the Week Sarah Warnke of Colby College and Offensive Player of the Week Gina Valles of Roanoke College in the womenslacrosse.com NCAA Division III award winners for the week.

Womenslacrosse.com “searches national game stories to come up with a Rookie-of-the-Week, an Offensive and Defensive Player-of-the-Week and members of the Honor Roll.” Dirksen is Messiah’s first player to be recognized this season on the national level by any organization. The complete list of award winners is available here.

Messiah will return to the field tomorrow, when they host Susquehanna University. Game time is set for 4 p.m.