Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/23/14
From Press Release
Days after it was announced that Penn State was selected to win the Colonial Athletic Association regular season, the Nittany Lions’ All-American Austin Kaut (Springfield-Delco) was selected as the 2014 CAA Preseason Player of the Year as PSU boasts a league-best five preseason All-CAA honorees.
Kaut led the Nittany Lions to a historic season and was named CAA Player and Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. The goalkeeper recorded a career year in the net with a 7.37 goal against average, ranking third in the nation, while making a career-high 194 saves as a junior. The PSU goalkeeper also stopped 61 percent of shots faced on goal, which ranked second in the nation, and registered a 12-5 record in goal for the Nittany Lions. The Morton, Pa., native saved 10 or more shots in 12 of his 17 appearances, including three 16-save performances. Kaut was named CAA Rookie of the Year in 2011 and has earned All-CAA honors three-consecutive seasons.
Joining Kaut on the preseason All-CAA team were teammates, sophomore attack TJ Sanders, senior midfielder Tom LaCrosse, senior long stick midfielder Steven Bogert, and junior defender Tyler Travis. Sanders was named the 2013 CAA Rookie of the Year, while ranking 15th nationally and leading the conference in goals per game (2.59). Along with Kaut, LaCrosse, Bogert and Travis were honored on the 2013 All-CAA first team. LaCrosse scored 23 goals and added five assists a year ago for 28 points. Bogert recorded a team second-best 80 ground balls to go along with 18 caused turnovers, while Travis helped Penn State’s defense with 31 ground balls and helped hold opponents to just 7.59 goals per game, which ranked second nationally.
Also earning a spot at the attack position is Towson senior Thomas DeNapoli and Hofstra sophomore Sam Llinares. DeNapoli, a first-team All-CAA selection a year ago, ranked fifth in the league scoring with 2.28 goals per game and fourth with 3.33 points per outing. Llinares was an All-Rookie selection and led the Pride with 13 assists last season.
Towson senior Andrew Hodgson and Drexel senior Ben McIntosh joined LaCrosse at the midfield position on the preseason squad. McIntosh scored a league best six game-winning goals in 2013, while Hodgson added three. McIntosh ranked second in the CAA with 2.53 goals and 3.73 points per game and ranked among the top four in assists.
Massachusetts senior Joe Calvello and Drexel junior Nick Saputo tied in votes for the faceoff specialist position. Cavello led the league and ranked 11th nationally in faceoff percentage a year ago (.582), while Saputo was fifth in the league (.547). Saputo grabbed a league-best 7.67 ground balls per game and ranked sixth nationally, while Cavello followed ranked fourth in the CAA with 5.27 per game.
Joining PSU’s Travis at the defense position is Delaware senior James Connelly and Towson’s John Fennessy and JoJo Ostrander. Connelly collected 18 ground balls and added 11 caused turnovers for the Blue Hens. Together the Tiger pair tallied 44 ground balls and 30 caused turnovers, with Ostrander grabbing a team’s fifth-best 28 ground balls on the season.
Penn State was chosen to finish atop the regular-season standings by a vote of the league head coaches. Towson, which captured the CAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship for the first time since 2005, was picked to finished second, followed by Drexel. Massachusetts earned fourth as Hofstra and Delaware rounded out the fifth and sixth spots, respectively.
The men’s lacrosse season will begin Feb. 1, as the Blue Hens of Delaware welcome High Point to Newark for a 1:00 p.m. contest. Penn State and Towson will open their seasons on Feb. 8, while the Minutemen of UMass will follow on Feb. 9. Drexel and Hofstra will finally kick-off their 2014 schedule on Feb. 15.
The CAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship is slated to get underway Wednesday, April 30th with semifinal action and the title contest is slated for Saturday, May 3rd. This year the Wednesday semifinals will be played at the two highest seeds and the Saturday championship game will be played at the highest remaining seed.
2014 Preseason All-CAA Men’s Lacrosse Team
Name, School Pos. Class Hometown/High School
Thomas DeNapoli, Towson* A Sr. East Rockaway, N.Y./Lynbrook
Sam Llinares, Hofstra A So. Hauppauge, N.Y./ Hauppauge
TJ Sanders, Penn State# A So. Orillia, Ont., Canada/The Middle Brook School (NY)
Andrew Hodgson, Towson# M Sr. West Islip, N.Y./West Islip
Tom LaCrosse, Penn State* M Sr. Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua Academy
Ben McIntosh, Drexel* M Sr. Coquitlam, B.C., Canada/Western Reserve
Steven Bogert, Penn State* LSM Sr. Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon
Joe Calvello, Massachusetts# FO Spec. Sr. Woodridge, Ill./Naperville North
Nick Saputo, Drexel FO Spec. Jr. Huntington, N.Y./Huntington
James Connelly, Delaware# D Sr. Royersford, Pa./Malvern Prep
John Fennessy, Towson* D Sr. Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown
JoJo Ostrander, Towson# D Jr. Massapequa, N.Y./Farmingdale
Tyler Travis, Penn State* D Jr. Geneva, N.Y./Geneva
Austin Kaut, Penn State* GK Sr. Morton, Pa./Springfield-Delco
CAA MEN’S LACROSSE PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Austin Kaut, Sr., Penn State
* — First Team All-CAA Selection in 2013 # — Second Team All-CAA Selection in 2013
Honorable Mention: Shane Sturgis (Attack), Penn State Downingtown East); Ryan Belka (Midfield), Drexel; Connor Mooney (Midfield), Massachusetts; JP Burnside (Defense), Penn State; Zach Oliveri (Goalkeeper), Massachusetts.
Leave a Reply