Coyne’s All-Americans: Men’s Division III
by Jac Coyne |
Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne Archive
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| It's easy to dismiss a guy like Trevor Scoon because he didn't have the pub this year, but he's been a top drawer guy for three years. He's an easy pick for my All-America squad. |
America is all about striving to be the best and
then being rewarded for reaching it. That's certainly the
way it should be, anway.
So it’s seems natural to ask: why do we have three
All-America teams, along with a generous honorable mention squad,
recognizing 105 student-athletes?
That’s not what our country - or our sport - should be about.
The honor, supposedly the highest a lacrosse player can
achieve, has been completely devalued. We don’t need to
recognize every good player, we should highlight the
best players.
Heck, we've got teams with seven or eight All-Americans on them
right now. I don't know about you, but my expectations for a team
with seven or eight All-Americans is to win all of their games and
by at least 10 goals.
How have we arrived at this point?
The primary cause is the transition of the All-America teams from a
vehicle to highlight the best players in the country to one that
will act as a recruiting/public relations tool for the coaches.
The reason we know this is true? Well, ask yourself: How many times
have I seen the All-America teams delineated?
Rarely do you hear that a student-athlete is an honorable mention
All-American or a third team All-American. He’s simply an
All-American. And that gets printed in the media guide or
recruiting brochure in hopes that it will resonate with a high
school junior.
Hence, we have 166 varsity D-III teams and 105 All-Americans.
If you assume an average of 25 players per program, that calculates
to 2.5 percent of the lacrosse players in Division III are
All-Americans.
You can call the current All-America format comprehensive, useful,
expansive or kindly. But the one thing you can’t call it is
exclusive.
The format needs to change. That’s why I’m
creating my own All-American team. One team, 12 players (I’ll
give a nod to today’s specialists and provide for a FOGO and
LSM).
That’s it. No consolation prizes. No orange slices.
It's not going to be an easy task. There are a lot of good players
out there, some with outsized reputations that may or may not match
the feedback I've received from coaches. Still, someone has to cut
through the clutter and figure out who are the All-Americans
– not the
feel-good-every-team-conference-and-region-gets-a-representative
version. We’re talking the guys who have earned it.
A couple of notes before I lay out the team. First, I was
originally going to outline the criteria for selecting my
team, but I started to get bogged down. I think if you look at my
picks, you'll figure out what I valued (although there are no hard
and fast rules). Second, since only 0.3 percent of the D-III
playing populace is being recognized, there are a lot of
outstanding players left off. If you feel like you can construct a
better 12-person team, please post it below.
Here we go.
Coyne’s All-America Team – Men’s Division
III
Attack
D.J.
Hessler, Jr., Tufts
We found out last year that the NESCAC coaches thought he
was something special when they voted him first team all-conference
as a sophomore. He won player of the year honor this year, and
when he was able to demonstrate his abilities on the biggest stage
and came up aces. Would he have been on this team without the NCAA
tourney numbers? Yes, actually – I happen to believe the best
player in that conference is, more often than not, going to be one
of my All-Americans. But the tournament resume this year certainly
seals the deal.
Steve
Kazimer, Sr., Stevenson
It’s not always easy living up to the hype, but
Kazimer backed his monster junior year with another outstanding
season that saw him score 46 goals and dish out 49 assists for the
19-2 Mustangs. In addition to the numbers, Kazimer also halved
his penalty minutes from ’09 – an issue heading
into this spring. That kind of maturity and self-improvement will
always get you points on my All-America squad.
Brady Burton, Sr.,
Denison
A solid player for most of his career, Burton made the jump
last year as a finisher when he shined in the NCAA tournament. He
scored four goals in the Big Red’s upset of Roanoke in the
second round and then added three more against eventual finalist
Gettysburg in the quarters. This year, Burton become the focus of
opponent’s game-planning and still posted another great
season with 37 goals and seven assists, guiding his team to the
NCAA tournament.
Midfield
Kyle
McGrath, Sr., Gettysburg
When I was covering the championships in Baltimore, an
individual asked me, “Why don’t you consider Kyle
McGrath more for player of the year?” I obviously think
he’s one of the 12 top players in the country, so one could
say he’s definitely under consideration (although, as
you’ll see later, he is not my pick for the honor). Even if
he matched last year’s numbers (31g, 10a), McGrath would have
likely made my team, but the fact that he matured into a player
that not only used his speed to create his own shot, but also for
others – he doubled his assist number in ’10 –
locked down the spot.
Chris
DeLuca, Jr., Cortland
Simply put, he’s the best midfielder in the country. A
fearless midfielder on the offensive end who just happens to be one
of the best face-off men in the country, DeLuca is a slam dunk. His
bona fides are unquestioned – the only lingering debate is to
whether he’s the player of the year. Stay tuned.
Sam
Bradman, Soph., Salisbury
I don’t like the idea of putting a sophomore on my
team – it’s just too early – but the CAC sent two
teams to the semifinals and that conference’s coaches voted
Bradman as the player of the year over Kazimer, so that’s
pretty much all I need to know. Bradman laid an egg in the
championship game, but as one goes back through the season, that
was the only important game in which he didn’t show up. Four
goals in an overtime win against Gettysburg, four goals and two
dishes in a one-goal win over Cortland, and a combined eight points
in the three games against Stevenson were hallmarks of his usual
production. Bradman making my team is pretty heady stuff; hopefully
he proves me right over the next two seasons.
Face-off Specialist
Craig
Bunker, Jr., Colby
The White Mules finished with a 10-6 record this spring, and
of those six losses five were by one goal, including a 10-9 setback
to Tufts. Why was Colby able to stay so close? Bunker. The junior
won 15-of-22 against the Jumbos. But he was pretty much doing that
to everyone this year, amassing an obscene 72.4 (212-for-293)
winning percentage. Bunker was one of the few All-Americans who
didn’t make the NCAAs, but he did manage to win 69.8 percent
of the draws against the four teams he faced that did.
Long Stick Midfielder
Steve
Simmons, Sr., Roanoke
Roanoke instituted a more passive defensive scheme this
season after years of pressure and Simmons seemed to take to it the
best. Wing play, ground ball proficiency, and the occasional
transition opportunity are great for an LSM (and it might even get
you a player of the year award), but it always comes down to
defense. Simmons delivers the whole package.
Defense
Grant
Firestone, Sr., Haverford
Firestone has been a consistent performer in the Centennial
since his sophomore year and capped this year off by anchoring a
Squirrel defense that allowed eight goals per game against one of
this stiffest schedules in the country. Seriously, was there any
team that wanted to play Haverford at the end of the year (or for
the last two years, for that matter)? And it wasn’t because
of their offense.
Trevor
Scoon, Sr., St. Lawrence
One of the dangers of basing the All-America
award on a single-season snapshot is leaving out a guy who has
performed his entire career, but may have not had the usual finish.
Scoon falls into that category. Scoon had the misfortune of being
on the first St. Lawrence team not to win the Liberty, but he
didn’t become a bad player overnight. As far as the Saints
go, he’s a take-away guy, but he’s just solid.
All-America solid.
John Haire, Jr.,
Dickinson
Chicks dig the home run checks, so they may not necessarily
enjoy Haire’s game, but they should appreciate his air-tight
approach. As the anchor of the Red Devils back line, Haire
doesn’t wow the crowd with a lot of needless risks –
it’s strictly shut off. And he does it better than just about
everyone.
Goalie
Ryan
Deane, Jr., Middlebury
He’s the best goalie in the toughest league. I
wont’ try to sell it more than that (although he has the
numbers, as well). You’re either in or you’re out. I
know all the arguments that are going to be rolled out against
Deane – didn’t even make all-league, first year as a
starter, etc. – but sometimes you’ve just got to make
the right choice.
Player of the Year – D.J.
Hessler, Tufts
Some people will say that this is just because of what
Hessler did in the NCAA tournament. My response? Damn right. The
top dogs show up in the big games, and Hessler was the guy who made
it happen. If Cortland had won the semifinal match-up, you could
pencil Chris DeLuca in this spot.
Rookie of the Year – James
Manchester, Rensselaer
The rest of the Liberty is still waiting to find out where
Manchester came from. All the 6-2, 215-pound rookie did was step in
and post a 6.09 goals against average and a 63 save percentage in
his inaugural season. More importantly, Manchester was 14-3 and led
the Engineers to the second round of the NCAA tournament after RPI
hadn’t qualified for nearly a decade.
Coach of the Year – Dave
Cornell, Connecticut
College
I’m willing to debate a lot of my picks. This
isn’t one of them. The Camels have certainly been a loveable
bunch over the last half-decade, mostly because they were the
conference creampuffs – Conn. College has been 11-25 in the
NESCAC since 2006. This year, Cornell molded this team into a
feared bunch who entered the postseason with just two losses. The
Camels had the longest road to travel to get back to NESCAC
legitimacy and Cornell did it seemingly overnight.
