NEW YORK – On the eve of the 2019 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.
Georgetown senior Daniel Bucaro was the coaches pick for BIG EAST Attack Player of the Year, while Villanova junior Connor Kirst won the Midfielder of the Year award. Defensive Player of the Year honors were awarded to Marquette senior long-stick midfielder Noah Richard. Providence senior goalie Tate Boyce earned his second Goalkeeper of the Year accolade of his four-year career, having also won the award in 2017. Denver faceoff specialist Brett Boos was named the Freshman of the Year and Villanova head coach Michael Corrado and his staff won Coaching Staff of the Year honors for the third time.
Bucaro, Richard, Boyce and Boos were unanimous selections by the coaches, who could not cast votes for their own players.
Georgetown’s Bucaro earns his second career league major award as he was the Freshman of the Year in 2016. Bucaro has earned all-conference honors every year since dressing for the Blue & Gray. He is a three-time first team honoree, chosen unanimously the past two years. As a rookie, he was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team. As a senior, Bucaro scored 48 goals, averaging 3.43 goals per game to help lead the Hoyas to an 11-4 record and a No. 2 ranking in the upcoming BIG EAST Championship. In 14 games played in 2019, Bucaro averaged 5.07 points per game, finishing with 71 as he also added 23 assists to his season tally. Four of Bucaro’s goals this season were recorded as the game winner. In league action, Bucaro led the BIG EAST in points per game (4.40) with 16 goals, six assists. A Tewaaraton Award Nominee, Bucaro enters championship weekend with 140 career goals, four goals away from tying Georgetown’s all-time goal record. Bucaro is five goals away from tying the Hoyas’ single-season goal record. Bucaro earned BIG EAST Attack Player of the Week honors three times this season.
Villanova’s Kirst led the Wildcats in points this season with 46 (29 goals, 17 assists). The junior had three four hat tricks on the season, while also adding 22 ground balls. Kirst ranked fifth in the conference in goals per game (2.07) and points per game (3.29) in 14 games played. Three of his goals were marked as game-winners. Kirst was noted as one of the Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-America Second Team candidates. Kirst was also a unanimous pick for the All-BIG EAST First Team as a sophomore in 2017. Kirst is the second Wildcat to earn Midfielder of the Year honors in the last four years, joining Jack Curran who co-won the award in 2016. Denver has held a stronghold on the award since joining the league in 2014 with Trevor Baptiste holding the honor for all four years of his career (2015-18) and Jeremy Noble winning the award the year prior. Earlier this season, Kirst was on the Watch List for the Tewaaraton Award.
Marquette’s Richard repeats for the second straight year as the coaches’ unanimous pick for All-BIG EAST First Team LSM. His ground ball total is the highest in Marquette history for a non-faceoff specialist and the second-highest mark for a BIG EAST player this season who does not primarily take face-offs. Richard's 71 ground balls rank as the second-best season total in program history and his 23 caused turnovers are No. 4 in a single season. In league play, Richard ranked third in ground ball pickups with 32. The senior, who is also a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, closed out his career with nine ground balls in a overtime loss to then-No. 3 Duke, and 10 in a one-goal loss to then-No. 12 Denver. He was part of a defense that held both top 20 teams to 10 goals or less. He is the second Defensive Player of the Year from Marquette in the last three years as Liam Byrnes won the award in 2016.
Boyce, a four-time All-BIG EAST First Team honoree, has won BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week honors four times this past year as the senior nabs the second Goalkeeper of the Year honor of his career. Boyce led the league in saves per game (12.67) and save percentage (.565) for starting net-minders in 15 starts. Boyce (7-8-0) posted a 9.91 goals against average, second highest among consistent starters. In league play, Boyce ranked second in save percentage (.568) and saves per game (14.2), and third in goals against average (10.70). Boyce has left a mark in Friartown as he holds a 9.55 goals against average, a .547 save percentage through 63 career games and has accumulated a program-record 715 total saves. Boyce also won Goalkeeper of the Year accolades in 2017.
Boos had some big shoes to fill in the faceoff dot as the replacement for four-time BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year Trevor Baptiste. Boos succeeded as he helped lead Denver to its sixth consecutive BIG EAST regular season title and continued the legacy in faceoffs, leading the league with a .701 winning percentage (89-of-127) in conference games and a .608 winning percentage (188-of- 309) in 13 games as a Pioneer rookie. He also led the BIG EAST in ground balls per game (6.00) through 13 games, totaling 78. In BIG EAST play, Boos led in total ground balls (37) and ground balls per game (7.40). The freshman added three assists for the season, all against league opponents.
Corrado, in his 13th year at the helm of the Wildcats men’s lacrosse program, won his 100th game in 2019. Under Corrado and his staff, the Wildcats were ranked for seven weeks in the national polls, ranking as high as No. 19 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll in late February. Corrado and his staff led Villanova to an 8-6 record, 3-2 in BIG EAST play, and earned the program’s eighth consecutive trip to the conference championship. Villanova had a pair of marquee victories this past season with an 11-10 overtime victory over then-No. 1 Yale (Feb. 16), then a 12-11 win at then-No. 10/13 Denver (April 6), handing the Pioneers their first league loss since joining the league in 2014. Corrado, with a record of 106-08, 33-22 in league action, also earned Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2010 and 2013. Villanova leads the league in the RPI rankings at fifteenth.
BIG EAST regular season champion Denver and No. 4 seed Villanova boasted a league-best seven on the all-conference teams. Denver had four on the first team, three on the second team; while Villanova had one on the first team, six on the second team. No. 2 seed Georgetown tied with the Pioneers with four on the first team. Third-seeded Providence had one player earn first-team accolades with two on the second team.
All six teams had at least one player honored. Marquette boasted four total honorees, St John’s had three.
Thirteen players were voted to the All-Conference First Team, nine of those players were unanimous selections, including all five of the major award winners.
Along with Bucaro, Denver junior Ethan Walker and Georgetown junior Jake Carraway were also unanimously selected as All-BIG EAST First Team attackers. Walker, a three-time first team honoree, led the Pioneers in points with 46 (35 goals, 11 assists). Carraway posted 76 points on the season league highs in goals (48) and assists (28). Bucaro and Carraway are tied this season in goals.
Along with Kirst, the first team midfielders also included Georgetown senior Lucas Wittenberg and Marquette sophomore Tanner Thomson. Wittenberg was third for the Hoyas in points with 45 (20 goals, 25 assists). He picked up 12 ground balls. Wittenberg was on the second team in 2018. Thomson led the Golden Eagles in goals this season with 26 goals. He also added 12 assists for 38 points.
The All-BIG EAST first team defense consisted of Denver senior Dylan Gaines, Georgetown sophomore Gibson Smith and Marquette junior Nick Grill. Smith and Gaines were unanimous votes. Gaines was the 2018 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. This season, Gaines helped lead a Denver defense that held opponents to 9.00 goals per game. He collected 22 ground balls on the season. Smith was an All-BIG EAST Second Team honoree last season. This year, the sophomore helped hold Hoya opponents to 10.67 goals per game, while collecting 84 ground balls and adding three goals. Grill collected 31 ground balls en route to helping Marquette defense to a 11.57 goal against average. Grill has received second team honors in 2018 and 2017.
Denver junior Danny Logan was voted the first team’s short-stick defensive midfielder. Logan picked up 51 ground balls, while also scoring five times and adding three assists.
Making up the All-BIG EAST Second team were Denver senior midfielder Colton Jackson, redshirt senior long-stick middie Matt Neufeldt and junior defender Colin Squires; Marquette senior attacker John Wagner; Providence senior attacker Nick Hatzipetrakos and junior midfielder Tim Hinrichs; St. John’s junior attacker Joe Madsen, junior midfielder Mike Madsen and senior defender Aidan Marron and Villanova freshman midfielder Matt Campbell, senior short-stick defensive midfielder T.J. Comizio, sophomore attacker Keegan Khan, red-shirt sophomore defender Patrick Kennedy, sophomore attacker Corey McManus and freshman goalie Will Vitton.
The All-BIG EAST First Team is calculated by position and includes three attackers, three midfielder, three defenders, a long-stick midfielder, a short-stick defensive midfielder, a faceoff specialist and a goalie. 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 15 players on the second team.
2019 Men’s Lacrosse All-BIG EAST Teams and Regular Season Awards
Attack Player of the Year
Daniel Bucaro, Georgetown, Sr., A^
Midfielder of the Year
Connor Kirst, Villanova, Jr., M
Defensive Player of the Year
Noah Richard, Marquette, Sr., LSM ^
Goalkeeper of the Year
Tate Boyce, Providence, Sr., G ^
Freshman of the Year
Brett Boos, Denver, Fr., FOS ^
Coaching Staff of the Year
Villanova
(Michael Corrado, Head Coach)
All-BIG EAST First Team
Tate Boyce, Providence, Sr., GK ^
Daniel Bucaro, Georgetown, Sr., A ^
Jake Carraway, Georgetown, Jr., A ^
Ethan Walker, Denver, Jr., A ^
Connor Kirst, Villanova, Jr., M ^
Lucas Wittenberg, Georgetown, Sr., M
Tanner Thomson, Marquette, So., M
Gibson Smith, Georgetown, So., D ^
Dylan Gaines, Denver, Sr., D ^
Nick Grill, Marquette, Jr., D
Noah Richard, Marquette, Sr., LSM ^
Danny Logan, Denver, Jr., SSDM
Brett Boos, Denver, Fr., FOS ^
All-BIG EAST Second Team @
(listed alphabetically)
Matt Campbell, Villanova, Fr., M
T.J. Comizio, Villanova, Sr., SSDM
Nick Hatzipetrakos, Providence, Sr., A
Tim Hinrichs, Providence, Jr., M
Colton Jackson, Denver, Sr., M
Keegan Khan, Villanova, So., A
Patrick Kennedy, Villanova, RS-So., D
Corey McManus, Villanova, So., A
Joe Madsen, St. John’s, Jr., A
Mike Madsen, St. John’s, Jr., M
Aidan Marron, St. John’s, Sr., D
Matt Neufeldt, Denver, RS-Sr., LSM
Colin Squires, Denver, Jr., D
Will Vitton, Villanova, Fr., GK
John Wagner, Marquette, Sr., A
^ - denotes unanimous selection
@ - due to a tie in voting, there are 15 players on the all-conference second team