Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/29/19
From Press Release
For a second straight season, the Lehigh men’s lacrosse team placed six student-athletes on an All-Patriot League Team, as announced by the league on Monday. Junior Conor Gaffney (Lenape-NJ) was also named Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Year, Lehigh’s first major award winner since Dan Taylor was named Offensive Player of the Year in 2015.
Gaffney and senior Craig Chick were named to the first team while senior Lucas Spence (Springfield-Delco), juniors Andrew Eichelberger and Christian McHugh, and sophomore Teddy Leggett garnered second-team recognition.
Gaffney was named first team All-League for a second straight season, being named Faceoff Specialist of the Year for the first time. He has proven to be one of the top players at his position, currently standing No. 4 in the country with his 69.0 percentage (216-of-313).
Gaffney’s resume is impressive, now owning the Lehigh program record for groundballs in a game (16), season (currently 125) and career (currently 322). Against Robert Morris this season, he reached 16 GBs for the second time in his career, also winning a program-record 24 faceoffs (on just 29 attempts). Gaffney’s groundball totals for this season and his career are good for second and fourth in Patriot League history. His 216 faceoff wins are No. 2 in league history.
Garnering first team recognition for a third straight was defenseman Craig Chick. Chick leads the Mountain Hawks with 36 caused turnovers while adding 45 groundballs, third on the team.
Meanwhile, Spence garnered second team All-League for a second straight year. Despite missing two games due to injury, he still leads the Mountain Hawks in both points (48) and assists (26).
The Mountain Hawks enter the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 2 seed and have earned a bye into the semifinals. Lehigh will play in the second semifinal at Loyola’s Ridley Athletic Complex, with opening faceoff set for 8 p.m. The Mountain Hawks could face No. 3 Boston University, No. 4 Army West Point or No. 5 Holy Cross on Friday.
2019 Men’s Lacrosse All-Patriot League and Major Awards
Offensive Player of the Year – Pat Spencer, Loyola Maryland, Sr., A
Defensive Player of the Year – Johnny Surdick, Army West Point, Sr., D
Faceoff Specialist of the Year – Conor Gaffney (Lenape-NJ), Lehigh, Jr., FO
Goalkeeper of the Year – Jacob Stover, Loyola Maryland, Jr., GK
Rookie of the Year – Chase Scanlan, Loyola Maryland, Fr., M
The William Lawson Coach of the Year – Charley Toomey, Loyola Maryland
First Team*
James Burr, Boston University, Sr., A
Chris Gray, Boston University, So., A
Kevin Lindley, Loyola Maryland, So., A
Pat Spencer, Loyola Maryland, Sr., A
Brendan Homire, Boston University, Sr., M
Chase Scanlan, Loyola Maryland, Fr., M
Greyson Torain, Navy, Sr., M
Ryan Wade, Navy, Sr., M
Johnny Surdick, Army West Point, Sr., D
Quintin Germain, Boston University, Sr., D
Matt Farrell, Holy Cross, Sr., D
Craig Chick, Lehigh, Sr., D
Conor Gaffney (Lenape-NJ), Lehigh, Jr., FO
Jacob Stover, Loyola Maryland, Jr., GK
Ryan McNulty (Bishop Shanahan), Loyola Maryland, Jr., LSM
Will Blumenberg, Colgate, Sr., SSDM
Second Team
Brendan Nichtern, Army West Point, Fr., A
Will Yorke, Bucknell, Jr., A
Kevin Kodzis, Holy Cross, Jr., A
Lucas Spence (Springfield-Delco), Lehigh, Sr., A
Matt Manown, Army West Point, Jr., M
Griffin Brown, Colgate, Jr., M
Sean Mullaney, Holy Cross, Jr., M
Andrew Eichelberger, Lehigh, Jr., M
Tom Rigney, Army West Point, Jr., D
Bryant Boswell, Bucknell, So., D
Conor Shears, Bucknell, Jr., D
Cam Wyers, Loyola Maryland, Fr., D
Dan O’Connell, Holy Cross, Jr., FO
AJ Barretto, Army West Point, Sr., GK
Teddy Leggett, Lehigh, So., LSM
Christian McHugh, Lehigh, Sr., SSDM
