Release courtesy of Gettysburg Athletic Communications

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – Gillian Cortese (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape), a junior on the Gettysburg women's lacrosse team, has been named the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association (IWLCA) Division III Defensive Player of the Week for the week of May 15-21.

It is the first time this season that Cortese has earned the national recognition and fourth time a Bullet player has been honored. The previous three were offensive accolades.

Cortese led the ninth-ranked Bullets (18-4, 9-0 Centennial Conference) into the national semifinals, backstopping the defense to a pair of wins in the regional round of the NCAA tournament. She made nine saves, including four in the fourth quarter, of an 11-8 win over No. 2 Washington and Lee on Saturday before stopping a career-high 10 in a 17-8 win over No. 10 York (Pa.) a day later.

For the season, she has 119 saves in nearly 983 minutes in goal. She has posted a .482 save percentage and 7.82 goals-against average.

Gettysburg returns to action against No. 3 William Smith in the NCAA tournament semifinals on Friday. Game time is 3 p.m.