GRAND LAKE, Colo. - The Simmons College women's lacrosse team was named a 2017 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Zag Sports Honor Squad in addition to juniors Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.), Kiera Kirkaldy (Middlebury, Vt.) and Jolene Potter (Readfield, Maine) being named to the Academic Honor Roll, it was announced by the IWLCA.

The Sharks were one of 143 NCAA Division III programs to earn a team grade point average of 3.00 or better to earn the honor. Simmons posted a 3.41 team GPA and has been recognized for its academics by the IWLCA for the past five seasons. 

The IWLCA honored 532 student-athletes from 159 different institutions on the 2017 IWLCA Zag Sports Division III Academic Honor Roll. To be eligible for this honor, student-athletes must be a junior, senior, or graduate student and have earned a cumulative academic GPA of 3.50 or greater. 

Fries, Kirkaldy and Potter each earn the accolade in their respective first years of eligiblity. The Simmons trio all posted a GPA of at least 3.75, including a perfect 4.0 by Kirkaldy.

The Sharks finished the season with an 8-12 overall record, including a 3-6 mark in GNAC play. Simmons pulled a pair of upsets in the GNAC Championship Tournament to become the lowest seed (sixth) in GNAC history to advance to the league's championship match, where it fell to top-seeded Johnson & Wales University.