March 6, 2018
Vanderbilt senior attacker Kayla Peterson was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for Week 4 on Tuesday, maintaining the Commodores’ perfect representation on the conference’s weekly awards this season. This is Peterson’s third career appearance on the Weekly Honor Roll, in addition to two BIG EAST Freshman of the Week awards in 2015.
Peterson finished with 11 points in two games last week, registering 10 goals and one assist. She turned in one of the greatest individual performances in school history last Tuesday, tying the Vanderbilt program-record for goals in a game with eight goals in a 17-15 loss to Louisville.
Peterson became just the second player in Commodore history to score eight goals in a game, matching Sue Napolitano’s record set on March 25, 1996, in Vanderbilt’s first season of Division I lacrosse.
The senior from Hagerstown, Md. equaled a record that’s older than she is, delivering the first eight-goal game in Cathy Swezey’s 21 years as Vanderbilt head coach, dating back to the 1998 season.
“She’s an unbelievable cutter,” Swezey said after Peterson’s scoring outburst. “She’s on the receiving end of some kids that just know how to get her the ball. They know she will come up with it, and she just doesn’t drop passes. In the end, she’s just such a great finisher.”
Peterson added two more goals and an assist in Vanderbilt’s 19-6 win over William & Mary on Monday, finishing with a 10-goal, 11-point week in two games. The senior has 23 goals through five games this year, and is just seven goals shy of tying her career-high total of 30, which she set last season.
“She’s always shown the threat that she’s capable,” Swezey said about Peterson’s career. “The cooler part about it, honestly, is that she’s been scouted every year for four years, and she still finds a way to score. She’s just that hard to stop.”
Peterson is second among all Division I scorers with 4.60 goals per game and 8.00 shots on goal per game. She leads the Vanderbilt offense, which is second in the nation in scoring and first nationally in both shots per game and shots on goal per game. Peterson also leads the Commodores with 23 draw controls.
The Commodores return to action Thursday evening in Philadelphia against La Salle, with opening draw at 5 p.m. CT.