NEWTON, Mass. (5/9/17) -- Fresh off its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship in program history over the weekend, the Lasell College men's lacrosse team took home three of the league's five major individual awards and had 10 players earn All-Conference accolades, it was announced on Tuesday.
Senior Jorge Salazar (Waltham, Mass.) was named the league's Goalkeeper of the Year and joins midfielder sophomore Ryan Madden (Hingham, Mass.), freshman Darien Clay (Newton, Mass.), and senior Connor Johnson (Hampstead, N.H.) on the All-GNAC First Team. Freshman defender Daniel Gorman (Wilbraham, Mass.) earned Rookie of the Year honors and was one of four Lasers named to the Second Team, while head coach Bill Mason was named GNAC Coach of the Year following his second year at the helm.
Senior attacker Josh Gallant (Hampstead, N.H.) and sophomore Austin Tomasetti (Elmsford, N.Y.), junior midfielder Alex McCormack-Kuhman (Wells, Maine), and sophomore defender David Sheehan (Tewksbury, Mass.) were all named to the league's Second Team, while senior captain Anthony Saitta (Derry, N.H.) rounded out Lasell's representatives with a Third Team nod at midfield.
Entering the Lasers' Tuesday contest with Misericordia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Salazar ranks second in the GNAC with an 8.95 goals-against average and 12 victories in 16 starts, while his .593 save percentage ranks third. Salazar was named GNAC Goalkeeper of the Week three times this season, and made a combined 23 saves in Lasell's postseason victories over Norwich and Mount Ida.
Gorman notched one goal and one assist, both in GNAC play, as he started in all but one of the 16 games in which he appeared as a freshman. The defender and Lasell's first GNAC Rookie of the Year since 2011 scooped up 34 ground balls, caused 28 turnovers, and won 14 faceoffs this season.
Mason, who came to Lasell after three seasons as an assistant coach at Bates, has guided the Lasers to two GNAC championship games and their first title in program history this season. Lasell went undefeated in GNAC play this spring and won its first regular-season league title since 2012 after starting with back-to-back, non-conference losses.
An All-GNAC Second Team selection last season, Madden leads three Laser midfielders among the league's top players as he enters the national tournament with a team-high 37 goals and tied for second on the Lasers with 48 points. Madden scored two of his seven hat tricks during the postseason run thus far, and also leads the team with 95 shots, 77 of which have gone on goal.
Clay ranks fourth on the team with 28 ground balls and third with 21 caused turnovers, and scored goals against GNAC foes Albertus Magnus and Rivier during his rookie campaign. Meanwhile, Johnson ranks fifth in the league with 85 grounders as a long-stick midfielder and also chipped into the offense with eight goals and 15 total points.
Tomasetti, who jumps to the All-GNAC Second Team after a Third Team nod a season ago, totaled the league's fourth-highest point total with 64 in 16 games, while dishing out a GNAC-best 43 assists. He has scored at least one point in every game in which he has appeared this season and enters NCAAs with goals in each of his last 11, including the championship game-winner against Mount Ida.
McCormack-Kuhman and Gallant rank third and fourth on the team with 26 and 25 goals, respectively, and have combined for 64 points. McCormack-Kuhman tallied five-goal games against Norwich and Mount Ida during the regular season to set a new career-high, while Gallant posted his 33 points in just 11 games played and has scored at least one goal in each.
Sheehan has teamed with Clay and Salazar to form the league's second-stingiest defense, allowing just 147 goals on the season. He is the defensive pacesetter with 50 ground balls and has also caused a team-high 32 turnovers, including four to help Lasell to its championship win.
Rounding out the Lasers' All-GNAC selections, Saitta was the team's fourth-leading scorer as a senior captain with 16 goals and 40 points, while posting 91 total shots. Saitta doubled his career assist total with 16 this season and has scored goals in five straight games entering NCAA play.
Additionally, senior midfielder Pete Dolan (Pearl River, N.Y.) was Lasell's representative on the GNAC All-Sportsmanship Team. Dolan played in all but two games for the Lasers, recording 31 ground balls and 65 faceoff wins.
First Team
A – Eric Russo, Johnson & Wales (RI)
A – Max Stone, Johnson & Wales (RI)
A – Josh Jenkins, Norwich
M – Ben Farrell, Johnson & Wales (RI)
M – Ryan Madden, Lasell
M – Chad Coehlo, Mount Ida
LSM – Darien Clay, Lasell
SSM – Connor Johnson, Lasell
F/O – Michael Sousa, Emmanuel (Mass.)
D – Chris Baglivi, Emmanuel (Mass.)
D – Brendan Gallagher, Emmanuel (Mass.)
D – Zach Adler, Norwich
GK – Jorge Salazar, Lasell
Second Team
A – Tony Cibelli, Emmanuel (Mass.)
A – Josh Gallant, Lasell
A – Austin Tomasetti, Lasell
M – Justin Bennet, Albertus Magnus
M – Alex McCormack-Kuhma, Lasell
M – Wyatt Sullivan, Mount Ida
LSM – Owen Macca, Johnson & Wales (RI)
SSM – Matt Hoffman, Mount Ida
F/O – Hunter Guzzo, Johnson & Wales (RI)
D – Daniel Gorman, Lasell
D – David Sheehan, Lasell
D – Alex Veloukas, Mount Ida
GK – Cam Hayward, Mount Ida
Third Team
A – Charlie Moran, Emmanuel (Mass.)
A – Jon Berry, Mount Ida
A – William Ryan, Rivier
M – Erik Lindaas, Johnson & Wales (RI)
M – Anthony Saitta, Lasell
M – Michael Cashman, Norwich
LSM – Matt Whear, Norwich
SSM – Sean Reilly, Emmanuel (Mass.)
F/O – Alex Zito, Mount Ida
D – Brad Medlin, Johnson & Wales (RI)
D – James Connors, Norwich
D – Liam Skinner, Saint Joseph's (Me.)
GK – Paul Schwarz, Anna Maria
Offensive Player of the Year – Max Stone, Johnson & Wales (RI)
Defensive Player of the Year – Chris Baglivi, Emmanuel (Mass.)
Goalkeeper of the Year – Jorge Salazar, Lasell
Rookie of the Year – Daniel Gorman, Lasell
Coach of the Year – Bill Mason, Lasell
Institutional Sportsmanship Award – Anna Maria College
All-Sportsmanship Team
Justin Bennet, Albertus Magnus (Sr., Fairfield, Conn.)
Daniel Rinkus, Anna Maria (Jr., Harwinton, Conn.)
Adam Crabtree, Emmanuel (So., Warwick, R.I.)
Nick Guerra, Johnson & Wales (So., Stratford, Conn.)
Pete Dolan, Lasell (Sr., Pearl River, N.Y.)
Cole Davis, Mount Ida (Sr., Chester, N.H.)
Connor McMahon, Norwich (Sr., Norwich, Conn.)
Isaiah Arteaga, Rivier (West Hartford, Conn.)
Joe O'Reilly, Saint Joseph's (ME) (Jr., Suffern, N.Y.)