She shoots, she scores and she breaks an NCAA Divisin II record! On Sunday, April 2, senior lacrosse player Katelyn Martin set a new NCAA Division II Career Goal scoring record of 234 goals surpassing the previous record of 231. She was also named as the PSAC Player of the Week for her record-breaking performance. Martin stepped onto the field two Sundays ago pumped for a home PSAC game against IUP and within the first 22 minutes, she unleashed an attack of seven goals on the Indians, with her first goal of the game coming only 17 seconds into the contest.
Martin broke the former record only five goals into the game at 15:47. To make this record-breaking goal even sweeter for an excited Martin, the assist had come from her best friend in the world, Molly Halberstadt.
As the ball hit the back of the net, the fire truck horns sounded. The Golden Rams rushed Martin after her victory goal and the coach even called a timeout to let the celebration continue. The Indians, although looking at a huge scoring deficit at this time, all started cheering for Martin as well.
“It felt amazing when I finally broke the record. It is a huge honor that I was not expecting when I started paying lacrosse here at West Chester four years ago. I am just thrilled that it happened at home so my family and friends could be here,” stated Martin.
Martin then tallied two more goals for the game, giving her about one goal every three minutes, before her play was ended for the day. To make the day even sweeter, West Chester defeated Indiana University 24-4, tying the team mark for second-most scores in a game.
The previous record of 231 was held by Martin’s former WCU and Downingtown High School teammate, Kathleen Sheehan. Sheehand tallied her 231 goals from 2002-2004 at WCU and during her freshman year at Shippensburg University.
Coming into the 2006 season, everyone expected Martin to break the record; it was just a matter of when it would happen. At the start of the season, she only needed 34 goals to break the record, and she had tallied that exact amount of goals during her freshman year at WCU. She then went on to tally 79 during her sophomore year and then 83 in her junior year.
As if this wasn’t enough excitement for one season, Martin only needs 17 more points to break the current WCU record of 311 for the most points in a career. One point is awarded for a goal as well as an assist.
As of right now, Martin has one goal in sight for the end of the season: nationals in Chicago.
“As of right now, my favorite memory is breaking this record. However, hopefully at the end of the season, my favorite memory will be winning nationals in Chicago!” exclaimed an excited Martin.
Martin’s main position for the team is attack wing, but she is very versatile in the sport of lacrosse as she also plays defense, defense in midfield and low defense near the WCU cage.
Perhaps Martin is so versatile is because she has been around lacrosse for as long as she can remember. Growing up, her mom was a coach for a local high school. Martin started her lacrosse career when she was only in third grade. Martin plans to continue playing lacrosse long after her college career is over, most likely at a local sports club.