NEW YORK – On the eve of the 2017 BIG EAST Men’s Lacrosse Championship Presented by Jeep, the league announced the regular season major award winners and All-BIG EAST First and Second teams.
For the third consecutive year, the coaches’ preseason pick of Denver attacker
Connor Cannizzaro panned out as he, along with Villanova attacker
Jack Curran split the vote for Attack Player of the Year. The award was renamed from Offensive Player of the Year in 2017. Both Cannizzaro and Curran were 2016 regular season award winners. Cannizzaro was Offensive Player of the Year and Curran was Co-Midfielder of the Year. The Pioneers’ junior faceoff specialist
Trevor Baptiste made it a three-peat as Midfielder of the Year, holding onto the title since starting his collegiate career. Defensive Player of the Year was awarded to Providence senior defender
Jarrod Neumann; while Goalkeeper of the Year was awarded to teammate
Tate Boyce. Denver standout attacker
Ethan Walker won Freshman of the Year. Coaching Staff of the Year honors went to Providence’s staff, headed by
Chris Gabrielli.
Baptiste, Boyce and Walker were all unanimous selections by the coaches, who could not cast votes for their own players.
BIG EAST regular season Denver boasted a league-best nine on the all-conference teams with six on the first team and three on the second team. No. 2 seed Villanova had the second most with seven, four on the first team.
Sixteen players were voted to the All-Conference First Team, which included all five major award winners. Baptiste, Boyce, Cannizzaro and Curran were all unanimous first team selections.
A Tewaaraton Finalist in 2016, Cannizzaro enters championship weekend with 54 points on 33 goals and 21 assists for the year. Denver’s second 2017 Tewaaraton Nominee holds the nation’s longest active point streak at 54 games, and in his two-plus year Denver career, sits in third in program history in career points (213), goals (136) and assists (77). The Denver senior is third nationally in career points among active players (247), second in career goals (162) and sixth in assists (85). Cannizzaro led the league in game-winning goals with four this season in BIG EAST play. He also was second in goals per game (3.00) and was third in points per game (4.80) over the five conference games.
Curran led Villanova during the regular season with 63 points on 46 goals and 17 assists. Against St. John’s, Curran netted eight goals tying Villanova’s single game goal-scoring record. His final goal in the Wildcats’ 18-3 victory broke VU’s single season goal record set in 1991. Curran topped the leaderboard with 20 goals, 4.00 per game in BIG EAST play. He also averaged 4.60 points per game, ranking fourth. His nine points against St. John’s tied with Cannizzaro for an individual game high in BIG EAST play this season. His eight goals were also a single-game high.
Baptiste is the nation’s leader in faceoff winning percentage (.743) and is second in the country in ground balls per game in 2017 (10.15). The 2017 Tewaaraton Nominee is 3.7 percent ahead of the next closest faceoff winning percentage this season. With another year of eligibility remaining in 2018, Baptiste is sixth in NCAA history in career faceoff wins (810) and 11th in NCAA history in career ground balls (435). Earlier this season, Baptiste broke the DU school record in both categories. In addition to his faceoff statistics, the two-time First Team All-American has nine goals and a helper. In BIG EAST play, Baptiste collected 59 ground balls (11.80) per game, nearly doubling the next-best average. Baptiste is the only player in BIG EAST Men’s Lacrosse history to win a major award three times. Denver has held Midfielder of the Year since joining the league in 2014. Jeremy Noble won the award unanimously that year.
With the team of Neumann at close defense and Boyce between the pipes, Providence limited their opponents to just 9.40 goals in five conference games. In 15 games played this year, the Friar defense posted a 8.23 goals against average, a league best. The Friar defense also led the BIG EAST in man-down defense (0.13), caused turnovers per game (7.27) and save percentage (.558).
Neumann led a close defense that ranked 11th at the end of the regular season in scoring defense (8.33). Neumann collected 25 ground balls for the year and caused 16 turnovers. He also scored twice and added an assist. He was a preseason Third Team All-America pick by Inside Lacrosse. Neumann finishes his career as a three-time All-BIG EAST First Team selection.
Boyce owned a 9-6 record on the season and recorded 886:11 minutes in the cage with 154 saves. He ranks sixth in the nation in save percentage (.566) and eighth in goals-against average (7.99). Boyce was also named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week on April 10 after recording 17 saves and collecting four ground balls in a win against BIG EAST foe Georgetown (13-7) on April 8. Boyce has earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors during each of his two seasons with the program.
Walker enters the BIG EAST Men’s Lacrosse Championships as the team leader in points and assists, and has a share of the team lead with Cannizzaro in goals. The BIG EAST Freshman of the Year enters postseason play with 35 points during Denver’s six-game winning streak, with at least five points in each of the last six games and a DU freshman record eight points in the Pioneers’ 12-2 win over Providence at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium on April 22. Walker has at least a goal in all 13 games in his rookie season, and has netted eight hat tricks in 2017.
Fifth-year head coach Chris Gabrielli has made program history with back-to-back BIG EAST Tournament berths in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. He also led the program to its first national ranking this season (No. 20 on April 17) in both the USILA/Nike Coaches Poll and the
Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Providence posted a 3-2 record in BIG EAST play during the 2017 season, marking the first time the Friars had won three BIG EAST games since the league began sponsoring lacrosse. The team also recorded its first winning season since 2006.
Joining Cannizzaro, Baptiste and Walker on the All-BIG EAST First Team from Denver were Colton Jackson, Christian Burgdorf and Sean Mayle. Jackson, a sophomore midfielder made his first appearance on the All-BIG EAST First Team. He had 23 points (20g,3a) on the year. Burgdorf, the 2015 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, makes his third appearance on the First Team, a unanimous pick for the third time. Burgdorf collected 21 ground balls on the year with three caused turnovers. Junior long-stick midfielder Mayle was a preseason All-BIG EAST selection. Mayle had six points with three goals and three assists during the season and collected 35 ground balls for the year, second-best on the Pioneers roster.
Second-seeded Villanova had a trio of players accompany Curran on the first team. Midfielder Jake Froccaro and defender Danny Sweeney were unanimous. Froccaro scored 14 points in league play (9g, 5a), ranking seventh in points per game (2.80). He also picked up 79 ground balls for the season, 46 points (32g, 14a). Sweeney helped Villanova to rank second in caused turnovers per game in conference play (6.40). He had 11 on the season and picked up 21 ground balls. Junior attacker Christian Cuccinello ranked second in league play in points per game (5.00). He scored 13 goals and had 12 assists for the Wildcats.
No. 4 seed Marquette repeated senior attacker Ryan McNamara on the first team. McNamara was a unanimous selection in 2016. McNamara led the Golden Eagles in points with 29 with 17 goals and 12 assists.
Georgetown finished fifth in the conference this season and missed out on the league tournament; however, the Hoyas boasted three BIG EAST First Team honorees. Georgetown sophomore attacker Daniel Bucaro, the 2016 Freshman of the Year, ranked fifth in league play in goals per game (2.40) and sixth in points per game (3.40). Bucaro was a second team honoree last season. For the year, he had 53 points (40g, 13a). Midfielder Peter Conley was second behind Bucaro with 45 points (27g, 18a) on the year. Long stick midfielder Michael Mayer, a senior, collected 53 ground balls on the year with 19 caused turnovers.
Making up the All-BIG EAST Second team were Denver midfielders Connor Donahue and Tyler Pace and goalie Alex Ready; Georgetown midfielder Craig Berge; Marquette’s goalie Cole Blaze and teammates Andy DeMichiei (attack), freshman Nick Grill (defense), Zachary Melillo (FOS) and Tanner Thomson (midfield); Providence’s Conner Byrne (SSDM) and Nick Hatzipetrakos (attack); and Villanova’s John Kluh (midfield); Devin McNamara (midfield) and Kurtis Naslonski (LSM).
The All-BIG EAST First Team is calculated by position and includes a long-stick midfielder and a specialty player. The All-BIG EAST Second Team includes votes for a goalkeeper, LSM, specialty player and 10 at-large players. No ties are broken, which resulted in 16 players on the first team, 14 on the second team.
The 2017 BIG EAST Championship Presented by Jeep comes to Providence’s Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium for the first time with two semifinal contests on Thursday and the championship game Saturday. No. 1 seed Denver and No. 4 seed Marquette will face off in the first semifinal game starting at 4:30 p.m. ET. No. 2 seed Villanova will battle the host, No. 3 seed Providence at 7 p.m. ET. Both semifinal games will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. Championship Saturday will air on FS2 with the game time scheduled for 4:47 p.m. ET.
Follow all the action for BIG EAST men’s lacrosse this season with the hashtag #BIGEASTmlax.
2017 Men’s Lacrosse All-BIG EAST Teams and Regular Season Awards
Co-Attack Players of the Year
Connor Cannizzaro, Denver, Sr., A #
Jack Curran, Villanova, Grad. A ##
Midfielder of the Year
Trevor Baptiste, Denver, Jr., FOS ^ ## $
Defensive Player of the Year
Jarrod Neumann, Providence, Sr., D
Goalkeeper of the Year
Tate Boyce, Providence, So., G ^
Freshman of the Year
Ethan Walker, Denver, Fr., A ^
Coaching Staff of the Year
Providence (Head Coach Chris Gabrielli)
All-BIG EAST First Team %
Daniel Bucaro, Georgetown, So., A
Connor Cannizzaro, Denver, Sr., A ^
Christian Cuccinello, Villanova, Jr., A
Jack Curran, Villanova, Grad., A ^
Ryan McNamara, Marquette, Sr., A
Ethan Walker, Denver, Fr., A
Peter Conley, Georgetown, RS-Jr., M
Jake Froccaro, Villanova, Sr., M ^
Colton Jackson, Denver, So., M
Christian Burgdorf, Denver, Sr., D ^
Jarrod Neumann, Providence, Sr., D ^
Danny Sweeney, Villanova, Sr., D ^
Trevor Baptiste, Denver, Jr., FOS ^
Michael Mayer, Georgetown, Sr., LSM
Sean Mayle, Denver, Jr., LSM
Tate Boyce, Providence, So., GK ^
All-BIG EAST Second Team @
(listed alphabetically)
Craig Berge, Georgetown, Jr., M
Cole Blazer, Marquette, Jr., G
Conner Byrne, Providence, Jr., SSDM
Andy DeMichiei, Marquette, Sr., A
Connor Donahue, Denver, Jr., M
Nick Grill, Marquette, Fr., D
Nick Hatzipetrakos, Providence, So., A
John Kluh, Villanova, Grad., M
Devin McNamara, Villanova, RS-Jr., M
Zachary Melillo, Marquette, Jr., FOS
Kurtis Naslonski, Villanova, Sr., LSM
Tyler Pace, Denver, Sr., M
Alex Ready, Denver, So., G
Tanner Thomson, Marquette, Jr., M
^ - denotes unanimous selection
# - Offensive Player of the Year in 2016 (award name was changed for the 2017 season)
## - Co-Midfielders of the Year in 2016
$ - Midfielder of the Year in 2015 & 2016
% - due to a tie in voting, there are two long-stick midfielders on the all-conference first team; and a three-way tie for the at-large vote
@ - due to a tie in voting, there are 14-players on the all-conference second team