Men's Lacrosse | 6/2/2021 7:27:29 AM
Fourteen Empire 8 student-athletes were named 2021 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Dynamic Division III All-Americans. Empire 8 Champion St. John Fisher led the way with a program record nine different All-American selections, while runner-up Nazareth College had three All-Americans and Alfred University had two players honored.
Players selected for All-American were nominated by their coach and then received votes from the All-American Committee. A total of 50 players were named first, second and third team All-Americans, while 130 more earned honorable mention accolades. The Empire 8 had five All-Americans featured on the first three teams and nine honorable mention selections. Twelve of the 14 All-American selections earned All-Empire 8 first team accolades in 2021. Eleven were first-time All-Americans.
St. John Fisher senior face-off specialist Joe Post was named a First Team All-American, while junior attack Ian Evans and senior midfielder Jack Mulvihill were second team selections and senior attack Nicholas Miller and senior long stick midfielder Roger Panara garnered third team honors. St. John Fisher graduate student goalkeeper Darin Eakins, junior midfielder Tucker O’Donnell, senior short stick defender Matt Jeffries and junior defender Kyle Rochester and were honorable mention selections.
Nazareth’s trio of honorable mention All-Americans included senior short-stick midfielder Owen Gonzalez, senior attackman Jeremy Jacob and junior midfielder Jon Roth. A pair of graduate students from Alfred, defender Shane Weber and face-off specialist Garrette Briggs were also named honorable mention All-Americans.
Post became the St. John Fisher’s first-ever USILA First-Team All-American selection after dominating the faceoff game for the Cardinals this season. A three-time USILA All-American, Post was among the Division III leaders as has won over 70 percent of his faceoff taken (267-for-378). He corralled a team-high 161 ground balls on the season and concluded the year as Fisher's all-time leader in both ground balls and faceoff wins.
A three-time All-American in his career, Mulvihill appeared in 14 games this season and ranked third among his teammates with 47 points. He finished the year with 28 goals, 19 assists and was credited with 23 ground balls and 79 shots.
Evans, the 2021 Empire 8 Player of the Year, led Fisher and the conference with 76 total points including 48 goals and 28 assists. Evans, who was named the league's Rookie of the Year in 2019, was responsible for four goals or more in a game six times. One of the most prolific scorers in program history, Evans produced five points or more in a game on eight occasions.
Now a three-time All-America honoree, Miller enjoyed a record-breaking season as the Ithaca native became Fisher's all-time leading scorer with 180 goals and 256 points to his credit. Miller, who was named the Empire 8 Championship's Most Valuable Player, posted 45 goals, 24 assists and was credited with 26 ground balls and nine caused turnovers in 2021.
Panara was among the conference's leaders with 11 caused turnovers in 2021. He also scored four goals on the year and assisted on two others while his 42 ground balls was fourth on the roster.
Eakins, who was named the Empire 8's Goalkeeper of the Year, accrued 12 wins between the pipes and played to a .505 save percentage. He was among the top keepers in the country with a 10.56 goals against average. Eakins finished the season having made 10 saves or more in a game eight times, including a season-best 16 stops against nationally-ranked St. Lawrence in March.
O’Donnell enjoyed a breakout season that saw him rank fourth on the team in points with 45. Over 16 games, O'Donnell netted 14 goals and led the team with 31 assists. Rochester was part of a back line that allowed just 10 goals to its opposition on average. With Rochester on the field, Fisher limited its opponents to six goals of fewer in a game six times overall. He finished the season with 25 ground balls and nine caused turnovers over 16 games played. Jeffries ranked second on the team with 48 ground balls and was third overall with eight caused turnovers. He was often tasked with guarding some of the top scoring threats in Division III this season.
Gonzalez was a mainstay as a short-stick defender for the Golden Flyers throughout his career. He started all 11 games in 2021 and ranked second on the team with 34 ground balls. Jacob was the team's leading scorer in 2021 with 36 points on 22 goals and 14 assists. He finished his career with 84 goals and 132 points. Roth was the Golden Flyers' top-scoring midfielder in 2021 with 28 points on 18 goals and 10 assists. He also had 23 ground balls and won 37-of-66 face-offs (56.1%).
Briggs, a four-time All-Empire 8 selection played in seven contests, finishing third nationally winning 77.5 percent (124-for-160) of his face-offs taken in 2021. Briggs tallied 73 ground balls, leading the conference and finishing 13th nationally with 10.43 ground balls per game. He graduates as the program's all-time leader in ground balls with 463 ground balls in 55 contests played, winning 74.3 percent (762-of-1,025) of his faceoffs.
Weber, also a four-time All-Empire 8 selection, caused 2.88 caused turnovers per game in 2021, a figure which ranked 17th in all of Division III. The four-year team captain added 40 ground balls and 23 caused turnovers on the defensive end. He wrapped up a stellar AU career as the program's all-time leader in caused turnovers (154) and tallied 244 ground balls in 59 career games played.