By Scott Johnston
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/12/11
The Lehigh Valley Conference boys lacrosse league has announced its All-Conference and most valuable player and, for the third straight season, a member of coach Jef Hewlings’ Emmaus squad has taken home the prestigious award.
Senior midfielder Dan Kinek, who has compiled 61 goals and 17 assists this season, was named the MVP by the league’s coaches on Sunday and joins two other former Emmaus standouts – Tate Klidonas in 2009 and Mike Bender in 2010 – to win the honor.
“Dan is well-deserving of the MVP award,” said Hewlings Emmaus’ fourth-year coach. “He’s a quality player who, with our youth this year, has played with a very large target on his back and despite that, he’s been a leader on the field and a leader on the scoreboard for us.”
Kinek, who eclipsed the 200-career goal mark earlier this season, poured in a game-high six goals and added a pair of assists Monday night in leading Emmaus to a wild 15-13 win over rival Parkland that clinched the regular-season title and the overall No. 1 seed in the upcoming LVC playoffs which begin on Thursday at Nazareth.
The Hornets (13-5 overall and 9-1 LVC) also placed senior goalie Joe Magargal on the all-conference squad along with sophomore midfielder Zack Schleicher who was named honorable mention.
Allentown Central Catholic (13-3, 8-2) led all teams with six members on the all-conference team. They include junior midfielders Matt Savage and Kevin Gulyas, senior attackmen Adam Wydra and Tyler Albanese and junior Steve Mussoline and senior defenseman Brian Topper. The Vikings will be the No. 2 seed and face third-seeded Parkland in the semifinals.
The Trojans, who finished the regular-season at 13-4 overall and 7-3 in the LVC, surprisingly, had just one member of its squad make the all-conference team, senior attackman Kurtis Kaunas a Lehigh recruit. Defenseman Devin Jepson was also named honorable mention.
Nazareth, which met Easton on Tuesday for the fourth and final spot in the LVC playoffs, placed two on the squad – midfielder Justin Brown and midfielder/goalie Richard Tonnies and defenseman Chris Laudenbach (honorable mention) – while Easton’s lone representative was midfielder Ryan Weiss.
Lehigh Valley Conference
MVP – Dan Kinek, Emmaus
All-League
Dan Kinek, midfielder, Emmaus
Joe Magargal, goalie, Emmaus
Matt Savage, midfielder, Allentown Central Catholic
Kevin Gulyas, midfielder, Allentown Central Catholic
Adam Wydra, attackman, Allentown Central Catholic
Tyler Albanese, attackman, Allentown Central Catholic
Steve Mussoline, attackman, Allentown Central Catholic
Brian Topper, defenseman, Allentown Central Catholic
Justin Brown, midfielder, Nazareth
Richard Tonnies, midfielder/goalie, Nazareth
Kurtis Kaunas, attackman, Parkland
Ryan Weiss, midfielder, Easton
Honorable Mention
Zack Schleicher, midfielder, Emmaus
Devin Jepson, defenseman, Parkland
Chris Laudenbach, defenseman, Nazareth
