BULLDOGS PLACE FIVE ON ALL-NEW ENGLAND TEAMS, TRIO EARN FIRST TEAM HONORS
May 12, 2010
BULLDOGS PLACE FIVE ON ALL-NEW ENGLAND TEAMS, TRIO EARN FIRST TEAM HONORS
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – After an impressive season that saw the program finish 12-5 overall in just its second year of Division I action, the Bryant University men’s lacrosse team places five of its own on the NEILA All-New England Team, with three Bulldogs earning first team honors, as announced Wednesday afternoon.
Senior captain Andrew Hennessey (Wading River, N.Y.) and sophomores Max Weisenberg (Long Beach, N.Y.) and Jameson Love (Darien, Conn.) were all 2010 All-New England First Team selections, while senior defenseman Matt Murnane (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and junior captain Anthony Iannello (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) earned second team nods.
The all-region honor caps off a stellar career for Hennessey, who dominated the faceoff X all four seasons, including the last two at the Division I level. A fifth-year senior captain, Hennessey has led the Division I ranks in faceoff winning percentage each of the last two seasons, including the 2010 campaign where he posted a .643 winning percentage. He takes home First Team All-New England honors at the specialist position.
The Bulldogs’ leading scorer in his sophomore campaign, Weisenberg posted a 41-point season and led the Black and Gold in goals scored with 29. The New York native added 12 assists on the year, good for third on the team, and recorded six hat tricks while scoring in every contest but one, a product of his nationally 25th-ranked .453 shot percentage. Weisenberg collected a trio of game-winning goals with 33 ground balls and nine caused turnovers on the season.
One of the nation’s most impressive goalies in 2010, Love proved all year long that he didn’t know the meaning of a sophomore slump. The second-year starting netminder led the nation with a 6.50 goals against average at the conclusion of the regular season and posted a .587 save percentage, good for fourth among all DI goalies. Love played all but two minutes between the pipes for the Bulldogs on the season and made 158 saves while boasting a 12-5 record. He added 48 ground balls – good for third on the team – and seven caused turnovers on the year and was named the Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Week on four occasions and Defensive Player of Month once.
Murnane headlines the All-New England Second Team after completing an extraordinary career of his own with arguably his best season yet in 2010. The senior defenseman led Bryant in a pair of categories with 70 ground balls and 42 caused turnovers, the latter good for fourth in the nation at 2.47 per game. He graduates as the all-time leader in caused turnovers in a single season and his 70 ground balls are a career high. Murnane is the program leader in career caused turnovers (110) and third all-time in career ground balls (253).
A junior captain and Bryant’s top longstick midfielder, Iannello earns a second-team bid after scooping up 46 ground balls and forcing 16 turnovers for the Bulldogs. He appeared in all 17 games for the Black and Gold and recorded a pair of points, scoring a goal at Brown on April 6 and dishing out a helper against Wagner on March 20 at home.
The Bulldogs completed their second double-digit win season in as many tries at the Division I level in 2010 and earned the program’s first win over a nationally ranked DI opponent with a 9-7 topping of then-No. 11 Yale on April 24 in New Haven, Conn. Bryant men’s lacrosse becomes eligible for an NCAA tournament bid in 2011.