NEWTON, Mass. (5/25/16) – Senior Mike Pino (Tewksbury, Mass.) has been selected to play in the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) East-West All Star game, as announced by the organization earlier this afternoon. The game will be placed on the campus of Western New England University at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, June 3.
This year's East-West roster is compiled of 52 student-athletes across all three divisions. All players were nominated by their respective head coaches, and were then ranked and selected by an NCAA division-wide committee.
Pino, a three-time all-conference player, led the Lasell men's lacrosse program to its first GNAC Championship final for the first time since 2011. A core member of Lasell's defense, Pino caused a season-best 37 turnovers in 17 starts amidst his best statistical year. Pino backstopped the Lasers to the lowest goals against average (8.24) and total goals against (140) during the Lasers' standout season.
The three-year captain leaves Lasell holding the all-time caused turnover record (76) in 58 games played as a Laser.
Academically, Pino was also named to the NEILA Academic All-New England Team.
The teams are nominated by head coaches in Divisions I, II, and III, and are comprised of student-athletes who have excelled both in the classroom and on the field over the course of their men's lacrosse career.
Sixty-five student-athletes from 29 different Division III institutions met the criteria, which required that nominees must have senior standing, a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale, and be a significant enough player that he was nominated for at least All-Conference selection. Pino graduated earlier this month with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. Classmate Pat Egan (Glen Rock, N.J.) was also named to the NEILA All-Academic team, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice as well.