Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 11/25/15
From Press Release
Former All-American Kevin Massa has joined the Lehigh men’s lacrosse staff as an assistant coach, as announced by head coach Kevin Cassese on Tuesday. The former Bryant standout finished his playing career last spring as the NCAA record holder in several different categories, including career faceoffs won (1,118) and taken (1,630). Massa will coach the faceoff and sub game for the Mountain Hawks.
“I am thrilled about the addition of Kevin Massa to our coaching staff for the spring of 2016,” said Cassese. “He is one of the very best faceoff men to ever play this game. I know he is a great competitor, having watched him battle as a college junior against some of the best faceoff men in the world at the U.S. men’s national team tryouts in 2013. Kevin will add incredible value to our faceoff game and substitution game, and he will make our lacrosse program better overall.”
Along with holding the NCAA faceoffs won and taken record, Massa is also the record-holder in multiple other categories: career groundballs (755), groundballs per game (9.93), single-season groundballs (755), groundballs per game (9.93), single season groundballs (231), single-season groundballs per game (12.16) and faceoff winning percentage in a game (1.000). Massa helped spearhead a rise to prominence by the Bryant men’s lacrosse program, which advanced to the last three NCAA Tournament, including a National Quarterfinal trip in 2014, due in large part to Mass. As a junior in 2014, Massa won 14-of-23 faceoffs at Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament to help the Bulldogs beat the Orange and advance to the Quarterfinals.
One season earlier, Massa’s effort at Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament helped propel him onto the national stage. He won 22-of-23 faceoffs against the Orange to almost single-handedly keep the Bulldogs in the game deep into the second half. He finished that season winning 315-of-434 faceoffs (72.6 percent) with 231 groundballs, following as a junior by winning 305-of-443 (68.8 percent) with 227 groundballs to earn USILA first team All-American recognition.
As a senior, Massa helped lead Bryant to a third straight NEC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance, winning 241-of-360 faceoffs (66.9 percent) with 160 groundballs. He was selected by Charlotte in the Major League Lacrosse Draft and is currently on the Hounds’ active roster.
The Mountain Hawks are hard at work this fall preparing for their 2016 season, which begins on Feb. 6 vs. NJIT. The nonleague schedule is highlighted by road games at Duke and Princeton and a home showdown against Cornell.
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