The Pilgrim Men’s Lacrosse League released their All-Conference awards for the 2010 season on Monday, May 10th. The All-Conference selections are comprised of the top 24 athletes from the eight Pilgrim League member institutions, as voted on by each program’s head coach. League champions Springfield College received six first team honors, and eight total nods, while Lasell was second in total conference honors with five athletes making the ranks.
Junior midfielder Chris Bulkley (Groton, CT) was
chosen as a Pilgrim League First Team honoree while senior
attackman Brian Yepez (Hillsborough, NJ), freshman
defenseman Matthew Keiler (Salem, MA), and junior
defensemen Anthony Erz (Hampton, NJ) and
Rob Suh (Colchester, CT) were awarded second team
accolades. These are first time post-season conference honors
for all five Lasers.
Bulkley was awarded one of 12 spots on the first team during a season in which he collected 34 points, scoring 11 goals and adding 23 assists. He finished the season ranked 4th in the Pilgrim League for assists per game, averaging 1.44 per contest, as well as 75th amongst all Division III NCAA Men’s Lacrosse athletes in the same category. Bulkley notched the game-winning goal in three of the Lasers’ five wins this season, against Roger Williams, Norwich, and Rivier. He finished the season in a three-way tie for third in the league in total season game-winning goals.
Yepez finished the season tied with Bulkley as the Lasers’ top point scorer (34 points), and was also the leader in goals for Lasell. He found the back of the net 20 times this season, scoring eight goals on extra-man opportunities, good for 4th in the Pilgrim League. He also contributed with 14 helpers and 23 ground balls. Yepez scored a season best eight points (five goals, three assists) against Wheaton College in the Lasers’ 12-10 conference victory.
As the Lasers’ primary face-off man, Erz had a standout season during which time he set the Lasell College men’s lacrosse record for most face-off’s won in a season, and ended the year ranked 2nd in the Pilgrim League, and 42nd nationally, in face-off win percentage. The junior won 135-of-233 total face-offs for a .579 percentage at the end of the season. He also led the team in ground balls, with 58 total, and added three points, scoring once and adding two assists.
Suh and Keiler proved themselves to be two of the top defenders in the league this season. Suh started in eight of fifteen contests this season, recording 28 ground balls and causing four turnovers for the Lasers. Keiler started in 14-of-15 contests this season as a first year student, and covered the oppositions leading offensive threat in each of those games. He picked up 26 ground balls and finished third on the team with nine caused turnovers. Only a freshman, Keiler was recognized this year as the men’s lacrosse Most Valuable Player this season at the Lasell Athletic Awards Banquet.
The Pilgrim League awarded Springfield College’s junior defender Mark Eaton as the Player of the Year in the conference and Babson College’s freshman attackman Alex Patinkin as the Rookie of the Year. Head coach Jeff Cohen, of Clark University, was named Pilgrim League Coach of the Year.
In addition, Bulkley, Erz, Jon Elia (East Lyme, CT), Atticus Robert (Concord, NH), and Ladson Shaello-Johnson (Binghampton, NY) were named to the 2010 Pilgrim Lacrosse League All-Academic Team. In order to make the team, a student athlete must have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.25 and be a significant contributor to his team.