NEW YORK  –  On the eve of the 2022 BIG EAST Men’s Lacrosse Championship presented by JEEP, the league announced the regular season award winners and All-BIG EAST First and Second Teams. All five individual student-athlete award winners were unanimous selections by the Conference’s head coaches.
 
Georgetown, the nation’s second-ranked team and BIG EAST regular season champions, earned five major awards –  senior Dylan Watson was unanimously named BIG EAST Attack Player of the Year, junior Graham Bundy, Jr., unanimously collected Midfielder of the Year accolades, graduate student Will Bowen swept Defensive Player of the Year honors and graduate student Owen McElroy was voted Goalkeeper of the Year across the board. In addition, the Hoyas, led by head coach Kevin Warne, were honored as the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
Following a historical first season as a collegiate athlete, Marquette’s Bobby O’Grady was unanimously selected as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.
 
Watson, a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, leads the nation with 3.93 goals per game (55 total) in 14 games played. Entering the BIG EAST Tournament, he is just six goals away from matching the program record for goals in a season. Leading a high-flying scoring attack, he broke the BIG EAST regular season conference record, averaging 4.60 goals per game in five league games. Along with his offensive prowess, the three-time BIG EAST Attack Player of the Week has collected 27 ground balls and forced four caused turnovers in 2022. Watson is Georgetown’s third Attack Player of the Year, joining Daniel Bucaro and Jake Carraway winners in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
 
Hoya teammate Bundy Jr. was also a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, while becoming the first Georgetown student-athlete in program history to earn BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year accolades. The midfielder ranked fourth in the BIG EAST with 4.04 points per game (57 overall), finding the back of the net 35 times and dishing out 22 assists. A 2022 Tewaaraton Watch List member, he tallied 23 points in five conference games, with 14 goals and nine assists. The junior midfielder notched a season-high six goals on April 9, leading the Hoyas to a 15-5 win over Providence. Defensively, the native of St. Louis, Mo., collected 17 ground balls and caused one turnover.
 
Anchoring the Georgetown back line in his first season as a Hoya, Will Bowen is the first Georgetown student-athlete in program history to win BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. A transfer from North Carolina, Bowen quickly stepped into his role as a leader of the nation’s top-ranked scoring defense in 2022, allowing just 8.00 goals per game in 14 outings. With 2.29 caused turnovers per game (32 overall), he leads the BIG EAST and ranks sixth nationally, while the 32 caused turnovers currently ranks fourth in program history. As a team, Georgetown is tied for fourth with 10.36 caused turnovers per game. Bowen was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week on five separate occasions in 2022, in addition to earning USILA National Team of the Week honors twice.
 
For the second consecutive season, Owen McElroy has been named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year, becoming the third individual in BIG EAST history to claim the honor twice [Tate Boyce, Providence (2017 and 2019) and John Galloway, Syracuse (2010 and 2011)]. The Georgetown netminder is the NCAA leader in goals-against average with 8.03 and an 8-1 record between the pipes. He ranks second nationally in save percentage with .623. McElroy averaged 11.72 saves per game during the regular season, tying a career high 24 against then-fourth-ranked Notre Dame in a 16-11 win on Feb. 26. His 24 saves are tied for second most in a single game in Georgetown program history. In conference play, McElroy allowed just 7.76 goals-against per game and .609 save percentage with 18 goals allowed and in three games.
 
Warne and his staff won Coaching Staff of the Year honors for the fourth time. The Hoyas won the BIG EAST regular season crown outright for the first time in program history with a perfect 5-0 league record. Georgetown finished the regular season 13-1, setting the program record for the most wins in the regular season, with the 13 wins also matching the program record for combined wins in a full campaign. The Hoyas rank among the top-five nationally in multiple statistical categories, including scoring offense (15.57, 5^th), scoring defense (8.00, 1^st), scoring margin (7.57, 1^st), face-off winning percentage (.610, 5^th), ground balls per game (38.21, 2^nd), points per game (25.14, 4^th), assists per game (9.57, 5^th) and caused turnovers per game (10.36, T4th). In addition, Georgetown set multiple BIG EAST Conference regular season records, including goals per game (17.60), assists per game (12.80) and points per game (30.40).
 
O’Grady, the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, was voted to the All-BIG EAST First Team. The rookie from Milton, Mass., ranked second in the league in goals, averaging 3.14, while also setting the program record with 44 goals in his first 14 collegiate outings. O’Grady also ranks 12^th in the NCAA in goals per game. The attacker ranks second in BIG EAST history averaging 4.40 goals per game in five BIG EAST contests, while matching the BIG EAST record on April 9, 2022 with eight goals in Marquette’s 23-13 win over St. John’s. O’Grady is the first Golden Eagle to claim the award, with the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year award first announced in 2016.
 
In addition to the regular season awards, the BIG EAST also released its 2022 First and Second teams.
 
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 14 players on both teams
 
Four players in addition to Bowen, Bundy, McElroy and Watson were unanimous selections to the First Team. The teams and awards are voted on by the conference’s six head coaches who are not allowed to cast ballots for their own team.
 
For a full list of the honorees see below.
  Attack Player of the Year
Dylan Watson, Georgetown, Sr., A ^
 
Midfielder of the Year
Graham Bundy, Jr., Georgetown, Jr., M ^
 
Defensive Player of the Year
Will Bowen, Georgetown, Grad., D ^
 
Goalkeeper of the Year
Owen McElroy, Georgetown, Gr., G ^
 
Freshman of the Year
Bobby O’Grady, Marquette, Fr., A ^
 
Coaching Staff of the Year
Georgetown
Kevin Warne, Head Coach

All-BIG EAST First Team *
Owen McElroy, Georgetown, Grad, G ^
JJ Sillstrop, Denver, Jr., A
Dylan Watson, Georgetown, Sr., A ^
Bobby O’Grady, Marquette, Fr., A
Matt Campbell, Villanova, Sr., A ^
Jack Hannah, Denver, Grad, M ^
Graham Bundy Jr., Georgetown, Jr., M ^
Brett Baskin, Villanova, Grad, M
Jack DiBenedetto, Denver, Jr., D
Will Bowen, Georgetown, Grad, D ^
Gibson Smith IV, Georgetown, Grad, D ^
Alex Mazzone, Georgetown, Sr., LSM
Zachary Geddes, Georgetown, Sr., SSDM ^
James Reilly, Georgetown, Sr., FO

All-BIG EAST Second Team @
(listed alphabetically)
Chet Comizio, Villanova, Sr., SSDM
Justin Coppola, Villanova, Jr., FOGO
Devon Cowan, Marquette, RS-So., A
Matt Grillo, Providence, Sr., A
TJ Haley, Georgetown, So., A
Jonathan Huber, St. John’s, RS-Sr., A
Luke Keating, Villanova, Grad, A
AJ Mercurio, Denver, Jr., D
Malik Sparrow, Denver, Jr., LSM
Ted Sullivan, Denver, Grad, M
Jack Thompson, Denver, Jr., G
Alex Trippi, Georgetown, Grad, M
Luke Williams, Marquette, RS-So., FO
Mason Woodward, Marquette, RS-So., D
 
^ - denotes unanimous selection­­­­
* - due to a tie in voting, there are 14 players on the First Team
@ - due to a tie in voting, there are 14 players on the Second Team