Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/17/24
From Press Release
The Penn State men’s lacrosse team placed five members on the USA Lacrosse Preseason All-America teams as the association announced on Wednesday. TJ Malone (Haverford School), Grant Haus, Matt Traynor (Malvern Prep), Jack Fracyon, and Jack Posey each earned a spot on the teams.
Meanwhile, Rutgers senior midfielder Shana Knobloch (Moorestown) was the lone Philly/South Jersey region player named to the first team. Knobloch enters his senior season having been named an All-American after each season in a Scarlet Knights uniform and was a Second Team All-American via the USILA after last season. This will be the third straight season he will enter the campaign as a Preseason All-American. Knobloch was recently ranked as the No. 33 player in the nation entering the season by Inside Lacrosse. He was a two-time All-Big Ten selection, and the 2021 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and has played in 46 career games, scoring 69 goals and adding 38 assists for 107 points.
Malone, who earned Preseason All-America Second-Team honors, is coming off a career season in 2023, returns to the Nittany Lion offense after a 73-point season off 39 goals and 34 assists. Through 52 games of his career, he’s scored 110 goals and 65 assists while scooping 82 ground balls.
Six of his goals in 2023 came in the NCAA semifinals against Duke. Malone was named a 2023 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, USILA Scholar All-American, Inside Lacrosse All-American, USILA All-American and USA Lacrosse Magazine All-American. He was also named to the 2023 First Team All-Big Ten and a top 25 Tewaaraton Award Finalist.
Haus also captured a second-team nod as he returns for his fifth season following a strong year in 2023. The Palmyra, Pa. native caused a career-high 10 turnovers, and scooped 35 ground balls alongside two goals and one assist. He enters 2024 off playing in 48 career games, tallying nine goals, and two assists while scooping 72 ground balls and forcing 22 turnovers. In 2023, Haus earned USILA and Inside Lacrosse All-American Honorable Mention honors while also being named to the All-Big Ten Second Team.
Traynor was named to a Preseason Second-Team All-America selection. During the regular season he tallied 32 goals and seven assists for 39 points. Traynor recorded two five goal games while tallying eight multi-goal games. He set career-highs in season goals, points, assists, multi-goal games, ground balls, and caused turnovers in a season.
Jack Fracyon secured a Second-Team Preseason All-America slot after leading the the Big Ten in goals against average and save percentage in the regular season allowing just 10.89 goals per game and led the Big Ten stopping 13.88 shots per game. He also led the nation in saves a year ago with 222 saves. He was named a USA Lacrosse Magazine Second-Team All-American, Inside Lacrosse Second-Team All-American, Big Ten Specialist of the Year, and named to the All-Big Ten First Team all last season.
Fracyon was also named Big Ten Specialist of the Week once last season as well as USA Lacrosse Magazine Division I Player of the Week on March 14 of last year. He started in every game last season recording a record of 11-4 which was a career-high in wins in a season.
Posey was named to the USA Lacrosse Preseason All-America Third team as he enters his fifth season at Penn State after a 2023 season of career-highs. He was named a USILA, Inside Lacrosse, and USA Lacrosse Magazine All-American Honorable Mention and was also named to the All-Big Ten Second Team as he was the Nittany Lions top defenseman. Posey finished out the season with 11 caused turnovers which is a career-high and scooped a career-high 25 ground balls.
Click here for the full article on Lacrosse Magazine
USA LACROSSE DIVISION I MEN’S
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
FIRST TEAM
A – Brennan O’Neill, Duke
A – Pat Kavanagh, Notre Dame
A – Connor Shellenberger, Virginia
A – CJ Kirst, Cornell
M – Eric Dobson, Notre Dame
M – Graham Bundy Jr., Georgetown
M – Shane Knobloch (Moorestown), Rutgers
D – Kenny Brower, Duke
D – Ajax Zappitello, Maryland
D – AJ Pilate, Army
LSM – Roy Meyer, Boston University
SSDM – Beau Pederson, Michigan
SSDM – Ben Ramsey, Notre Dame
FO – Jake Naso, Duke
G – Liam Entenmann, Notre Dame
SECOND TEAM
A – Coulter Mackesy, Princeton
A – Matt Brandau, Yale
A – TJ Malone (Haverford School), Penn State
M – Jake Stevens, Syracuse
M – Matt Traynor (Malvern Prep), Penn State
M – Alexander Vardaro, Georgetown
D – Cole Kastner, Virginia
D – Mason Woodward, Marquette
D – Jackson Bonitz, Navy
LSM – Jake Piseno, UAlbany
SSDM – Brett Martin, Johns Hopkins
SSDM – Grant Haus, Penn State
FO – Justin Wietfeldt, Michigan
G – Jack Fracyon, Penn State
THIRD TEAM
A – Joey Spallina, Syracuse
A – Michael Boehm, Michigan
A – Payton Cormier, Virginia
M – Matt Collison, Johns Hopkins
M – Griffin Schutz, Virginia
M – Jacob Morin, Army
D – Jack Posey, Penn State
D – Scott Smith (Conestoga), Johns Hopkins
D – Brendan Lavelle, Penn
LSM – Tyler Carpenter, Duke
SSDM – Dylan Hess, Georgetown
SSDM – Patrick Hackler, Yale
FO – Luke Wierman (Henderson), Maryland
G – Matt Knote, UMass
HONORABLE MENTION
A – Chris Lyons (Shawnee), Yale
A – JP Ward, Delaware
A – Ross Scott, Rutgers
A – Chris Kavanagh, Notre Dame
A – Reese Burek, Army
A – Dyson Williams, Duke
A – Dalton Young, Richmond
A – Braden Erksa, Maryland
A – Vince D’Alto, Boston University
A – Scott Cole, Lehigh
A – Mike Robinson, Delaware
A – Dylan Pallonetti, Stony Brook
A – Josh Zawada, Duke
A – Adam Poitras, Loyola
A – Russell Melendez, Johns Hopkins
M – Evan Plunkett, Army
M – Levi Anderson, Saint Joseph’s
M – Thomas Greenblatt, Ohio State
M – Michael Chabra, Providence
M – Lance Madonna, Richmond
M – Max Hewitt, Navy
M – Christian Ronda, Michigan
M – Sam English, Syracuse
M – Evan James, Loyola
M – Hugh Kelleher, Cornell
D – Paul Barton, North Carolina
D – Jackson Canfield, Maryland
D – Mitchell Dunham, Mount St. Mary’s
D – Reid Colwell, Villanova
D – Jack DiBenedetto, Denver
D – Patrick Morrison, Boston University
D – Bobby Van Buren, Ohio State
D – Pace Billings, Princeton
D – Jack Follows, Cornell
LSM – AJ Mercurio, Denver
LSM – Jack Stuzin, Yale
LSM – Will Donovan, Notre Dame
LSM – Richard Checo, Lehigh
LSM – Nick Alviti, Maryland
SSDM – Pat Murphy, Vermont
SSDM – Noah Chizmar, Virginia
SSDM – Chase Yager, Virginia
SSDM – Jackson Peters, Navy
SSDM – Jake Titus, Syracuse
SSDM – Tucker Garrity, Jacksonville
FO – Will Coletti, Army
FO – Tommy Burke, Ohio State
FO – Alec Stathakis, Denver
FO – Will Lynch, Notre Dame
G – Logan McNaney, Maryland
G – Michael Gianforcaro (Duke’s LC, Lincoln University native), Princeton
G – Will Mark, Syracuse
G – Chayse Ierlan, Johns Hopkins
