NEW YORK – On the eve of the 2024 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.
Denver, the nation’s fourth-ranked team and BIG EAST regular season champions, earned four major awards – junior Jimmy Freehill was unanimously named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, graduate student Alec Stathakis was unanimously selected as Specialist of the Year and senior Malcolm Kleban was voted Goalkeeper of the Year. In addition, the Pioneers, led by first-year head coach Matt Brown, were honored as the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year.
Leading Providence on the attack, junior Ryan Bell garnered Offensive Player of the Year accolades, while Georgetown first-year goalie Anderson Moore earned Freshman of the Year honors.
Bell, a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, led the BIG EAST in five conference games with 4.60 points per game (23 total) and 3.20 assists per game (16 total). Overall, he leads the conference and ranks seventh nationally with 3.00 assists per game (42 total) across all 14 regular season games entering the BIG EAST Tournament. In his third season with the Friars, Bell also tallied 21 goals, capping the regular season with a conference leading 63 points. Along with his offensive prowess, the three-time BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week has collected 13 ground balls and forced a caused turnover in 2024. Bell is Providence’s first major award winner on the offensive end.
Anchoring the Denver back line in his third season, Freehill captured BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year accolades and was a unanimous selection on the All-BIG EAST First Team. With 1.46 caused turnovers per game (19 overall), he ranks third in the BIG EAST, while also collecting 26 ground balls. As a team, Denver ranks fifth in the nation with just 9.08 goals allowed per game in 2024. Freehill is the third Pioneer in program history to garner BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year accolades and the first since Dylan Gaines in 2018.
In the inaugural announcement of the BIG EAST Specialist of the Year honor, Denver face-off specialist Stathakis was a unanimous selection by the league’s head coaches. The graduate student ranks fifth nationally and first in the conference with a .614 win-percentage at the X position, winning 189-of-308 total faceoffs. Overall, he has taken 308 out of the team’s 323 faceoffs in 2024 (.954). He also ranks 12
th in the nation and first in the BIG EAST with 7.46 ground balls per game.
Denver’s Kleban has been named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year, becoming the third Denver student-athlete to garner the award. The Denver netminder led the Pioneers to a perfect 5-0 mark in league play, in addition to registering a .541 save percentage against 74 shots faced in conference competition. Overall, with an 11-2 regular season mark, Kleban registered a .517 save percentage in 13 games, and has made 123 saves on the year.
Brown and his staff won Coaching Staff of the Year honors in his first year as head coach of the Pioneers. The Pioneers won the BIG EAST regular season crown outright for the first time since 2019 with a perfect 5-0 league record. Denver finished the regular season 11-2 and rank fourth in the national polls. The Pioneers lead the nation in man-down defense (.821) and rank fifth nationally in scoring defense (9.08 goals allowed per game).
Moore, the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, is the fourth Hoya to garner the award. The rookie from Birmingham, Ala., ranks third nationally and first in the conference with just 8.80 goals allowed per game. Additionally, Moore leads the BIG EAST with a .538 save percentage, corralling 128 saves in the regular season.
In addition to the regular season awards, the BIG EAST also released its 2024 First and Second teams.
The All-BIG EAST First Team and Second Team includes votes for a goalkeeper, two specialty players and 10 at-large players on each. No ties are broken, which resulted in 15 players on both the firth and second teams.
Four players in addition to Bell, Freehill and Stathakis 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.
2024 Men’s Lacrosse All-BIG EAST Teams and Regular Season Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Ryan Bell, Providence, A
Defensive Player of the Year
Jimmy Freehill, Denver, D *
Specialist of the Year
Alec Stathakis, Denver, FO *
Goalkeeper of the Year
Malcolm Kleban, Denver, G
Freshman of the Year
Anderson Moore, Georgetown, G
Coaching Staff of the Year
Denver
Matt Brown, Head Coach
All-BIG EAST First Team ^
Jimmy Freehill, Denver, D *
Malcolm Kleban, Denver, G
Michael Lampert, Denver, A
AJ Mercurio, Denver, LSM *
Alec Stathakis, Denver, FO *
Ty Banks, Georgetown, D
Graham Bundy Jr., Georgetown, M *
Aidan Carroll, Georgetown, A *
Dylan Hess, Georgetown, SSDM
Alexander Vardaro, Georgetown, M
Mason Woodward, Marquette, D *
Ryan Bell, Providence, A *
Brian Kelly, St. John’s, A
Stephen Zupicich, Villanova, LSM
Matt Licata, Villanova, A
All-BIG EAST Second Team #
Richie Connell, Denver, M
Jack DiBenedetto, Denver, D
Jake Edinger, Denver, SSDM
Casey Wilson, Denver, SSDM
TJ Haley, Georgetown, A
Anderson Moore, Georgetown, G
Bobby O’Grady, Marquette, A
Luke Williams, Marquette, FO
Michael Chabra, Providence, M
James Corasaniti, Providence, G
Richie Joseph, Providence, A
Bobby Seel, St. John’s, A
Reid Colwell, Villanova, D
Stevie Jones, Villanova, SSDM
Colin Michener, Villanova, A
*Unanimous Selection
^ due to a tie in voting, there are 15 players on the First Team
# due to a tie in voting, there are 15 players on the Second Team