SAN DIEGO – San Diego State lacrosse players Harlowe Steele, Katy Sharretts and Shannon Gallagher have been chosen team captains for the 2019 campaign as announced by eighth-year head coach Kylee White. Steele will serve as one of the Aztecs' three captains for the second year in a row, joining first-time honorees Sharretts and Gallagher.
"Harlowe, Katy and Shannon, are exceptional individuals that exude great character and leadership," White said. "They epitomize everything we ask of our players, leading by example every time they step on the field. They are outstanding athletes and make the people around them better."
A native of British Columbia, Canada, Steele earned all-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honors as a junior last year after scoring a team-high 38 goals, which was good for third on the Aztecs' single-season charts. In addition, she ranked second on the squad with 52 draw controls and finished third with 29 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers. The SDSU midfielder also ranked sixth nationally in 2018 with a .585 shot percentage and netted three or more goals in eight in different games.
Not to be outdone, Steele was also named to the MPSF all-tournament team after helping the Aztecs capture their first-ever conference championship and received MPSF Offensive Player of the Week recognition on three occasions. She has also excelled in the classroom, earning a spot on the MPSF all-academic team for two years in a row.
Sharretts, meanwhile, blossomed in her first year as San Diego State's starting goalkeeper last spring as a redshirt sophomore, meriting all-MPSF accolades after leading the conference with a school-record 167 saves and 9.28 saves per game to go with a .459 save percentage, which tops the program's single-season list. The Bel Air, Md., product made double-digit saves in nine games, including a career-best 14 on five separate occasions. She also ranked on the team with 31 ground balls and collected two MPSF Defensive Player of the Week awards.
Additionally, Sharretts was selected to the MPSF all-tournament team after posting an 8.17 goals against average in the two-game series last spring, which was over four goals less than her 12.53 clip entering the conference championships.
A native of Mount Laurel, N.J., Gallagher has started 36 of 37 games at defender over the past two seasons, including all 19 contests as a junior in 2018, when she finished with 21 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers on the year. Gallagher recorded multiple ground balls in six different games, matching her career-high with three in an 18-7 road victory over Furman. She also contributed to the Aztecs' winning effort in the MPSF Championship game, collecting two ground balls and causing a turnover to help the Scarlet and Black emerge with an 11-10 overtime thriller.
In 2017, Gallagher was also part of a robust defensive team effort, as San Diego State finish 15th nationally in caused turnovers and ranked 32nd in ground balls. During that season, she notched a personal-best three caused turnovers in Aztec home victories over Saint Joseph's and California.
Along with Steele, Sharretts and Gallagher, San Diego State boasts 25 additional returners who will join a talented group of 10 freshmen looking to build on the Aztecs' phenomenal success of late. SDSU finished with back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in program history after posting a school-record 11 victories in 2018, capped by the school's aforementioned MPSF crown. In addition, the Aztecs sported seven all-MPSF honorees and 15 conference player of week recipients.