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Patriot League Lacrosse News
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April 23, 2008
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Patriot League Announces Men's Lacrosse Major Awards |
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Center Valley, Pa. - Army was the winner of two of the five Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Major Awards and Colgate, Lafayette and Navy each had one student-athlete honored. Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year honors went to Colgate's Brandon Corp, while Navy's Jordan DiNola was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. Army's Adam Fullerton was tabbed the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year and Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors went to Lafayette's Tom Perini. The 2008 Patriot League Coach of the Year award was given to Army's Joe Alberici.
The Patriot League preseason voters were right as Corp and DiNola were predicated as the Patriot League Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, in the beginning of the season by head coach and sports information directors.
Corp repeats as the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year after scoring a League-high 30 goals in all games and 14 in Patriot League contests. For the year he came up with 41 overall points to tie for second in the Patriot League. The three-time All-Patriot League selection is currently riding a 29-game scoring streak, having put up 62 goals and 29 assists over that span which encompasses every game over the last two years. The junior attack had 11 multiple-point outings this year, including a season-high six points on March 2 against Canisius. Colgate has captured the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year three times with Corp's honors in both 2007 and 2008 and Derek Laub's in 1993. Corp joins two other Patriot Leaguer's that have won this award more than once - Army's Tim Pearson (1999, 2001, 2002) and Bucknell's Chris Cara (2004 and 2005).
DiNola is the first Mid to be named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year since Navy joined the League in 2004. The senior defender is the anchor to the number one defense in the nation as the Mids have given up just 5.71 goals per contest. The Mids were even better in Patriot League competition, allowing a mere 4.30 goals per game. DiNola and the Navy defense only allowed double-digit goals to an opponent twice this season - both were ranked in the top 10 nationally. DiNola was honored on the First-Team All-Patriot for the third time in his career this year and is a 2008 Tewaaraton Award nominee.
This year saw Fullerton earn the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year honor for the second season in a row, become a two-time First-Team All-Patriot League honoree and a Tewaaraton and USILA Lt. Raymond J. Enners award nominee. Fullerton was first in the Patriot League in both save percentage (.638) and goals against average (6.77) and ranks fourth and fifth in the nation in those two statistical areas, respectively. The senior netminder was also first in the Patriot League in saves with 148. He had nine double-digit save games and ended the regular season with a career-high 24 stops against No. 2 Duke. In all but two games this season he held opponents to under 10 goals. His goals against average was even better in Patriot League play at 5.79, where he allowed just 34 scores over six games.
Perini brought home Lafayette's first-ever Patriot League Rookie of the Year award in a season that saw him start all 13 of the Leopards' games. Perini paced all Patriot League freshmen in goals (27) and tied for first in points (30). His 27 goals were a tie for second among all Patriot League players. The two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week had at least one point in all but one game this season and tallied a career-high six points on February 27 against Wagner on five goals and one assist.
Alberici led Army to a 9-5 overall and 5-1 mark in Patriot League competition to give the Black Knights the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament for the first time. Alberici also guided the Black Knights to their first win over rival Navy in 11 years, snapping a 13-game losing streak, in a 9-6 victory at West Point on senior day. Alberici's squad was ranked as high as eighth in the USILA National Coaches Poll on April 14. Aside from the preseason rankings, the Black Knights have been ranked in the top 20 all season long by the USILA. Alberici joins former Black Knight Head Coach Jack Emmer (1992 and 1998) as Patriot League Coach of the Year honorees for Army.
The 2008 Patriot League Tournament will take place Friday, April 25 with two semifinal contests and Sunday, April 27 with the championship game. Army will host the event as the top seed and face No. 4 Bucknell at 4 p.m. on Friday, while No. 2 Navy and No.3 Colgate will play at 7 p.m. The winners of Friday's semifinal matches will advance to the championship tilt on Sunday, which will be aired on CBS College Sports at 2 p.m.
2008 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Major Awards
Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year
Brandon Corp, Colgate
Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year
Jordan DiNola, Navy
Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year
Adam Fullerton, Army
Patriot League Rookie of the Year
Tom Perini, Lafayette
Patriot League Coach of the Year
Joe Alberici, Army
Source: Patriot League
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