CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Senior Christina Dove and volunteer assistant coach Katie Rowan will compete at the 2010 Champion Challenge this weekend at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Buena Vista, Fla. Dove will compete with the US developmental squad, while Rowan is a member of the US senior national team.
The fifth annual Champion Challenge will feature the U.S. men’s and women’s national lacrosse teams as five collegiate programs. The women’s senior national team will play Notre Dame on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Duke on Sunday at 11 a.m. The developmental squad will be in action on Saturday against Florida at 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday when it faces Duke at 8:45 a.m. and Notre Dame at 11:30 a.m.
Dove enters her senior season ranked second on Syracuse’s all-time scoring list with 238 points. She is also second in career goals (181) and fifth in career assists (57). Last season Dove earned second-team All-America honors for the second consecutive season after leading the team with 59 goals. She earned the BIG EAST co-Midfielder of the Year award and was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team. Dove has scored a goal in her last 40 games, which is tied for the third-longest active streak in the nation.
Rowan, Syracuse’s first three-time first-team All-American, holds the school career records for points (396), goals (232) and assists (164). She ended her career ranked fourth on the NCAA Division I all-time scoring list and third in career assists. Rowan is the all-time leading scorer in BIG EAST history and was a unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team selection all four years and a two-time BIG EAST Attack Player of the Year.
Syracuse opens the 2010 campaign on Feb. 19 against Colgate at 4 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.