MINNEAPOLIS— The University of Northwestern's Cara Smith and Lake Forest College's Krissy Kuwahara have been named the Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) women's offensive and defensive players of the week respectively, for events February 26-March 3 as selected by the league's head coaches.

Smith (Watertown, Wis.) scored four goals and added four assists over the two games on the week for the Eagles. She scored four goals in Saturday's 13-8 win over Concordia Wisconsin. Smith added six draw controls, six ground balls, and 10 caused turnovers on the week.

Kuwahara (Anaheim, Calif.) had four caused turnovers, two draw controls, one ground ball and had a goal in Saturday's 17-16 overtime loss to UW-La Crosse. 

This is Smith's first offensive career MLC honor as she previously earned six defensive weekly honors in her career. This is Kuwahara's second career defensive honor, as she previously earned one offensive weekly honor in the 2022 season.

The MLC is comprised of NCAA Division III institutions located throughout the Midwest including Augsburg (Minneapolis), Cornell (Mt. Vernon, Iowa), Hamline (St. Paul, Minn.), Lake Forest (Lake Forest, Ill.), Northwestern (St. Paul, Minn.), and Saint Benedict (St. Joseph, Minn.).

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