All-Coyne Team: NCAA Division III Men
by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne Archive
All-Coyne Teams: MCLA I | MCLA II | WD3 | MD3
It’s that time of year. Preseason’s greetings!
Lacrosse Magazine will release its preseason rankings in the
January issue, but one of the things we don’t do is preseason
All-Americans – we limit ourselves to Preseason Players of
the Year, which, to be honest, is tough enough to deliberate and
find a consensus.
(Look no further than LMO’s
fan poll that ended Monday, the results of which will also be
published in January.)
As an experiment, Jac Coyne and Matt DaSilva have developed their
own preseason All-American teams – with a twist. We’re
not looking for the best player at every position. Rather,
we’re trying to construct the best team, blending styles and
strengths. We want to devise a team that cannot be defeated in a
15-minute game with any combination of the remaining players in
their division.
We’ll call them the All-Coyne and All-DaSilva teams, so as
not to be confused with those
other preseason All-Americans.
Think we’ve erred? Think you can do better? You can try to
whip up a different combination of players at their designated
positions (and post them in the comments section below) without
using ours, but we promise, you won’t win.
Check back to LMO this week and next to see our unbeatable squads from the MCLA ranks up through NCAA Division I men and women.
NCAA DIVISION III MEN’S ALL-COYNE TEAM
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A – Brady Burton (Denison)
A – Steve Kazimer (Stevenson)
A – D.J. Hessler (Tufts)
M – Owen Smith (Bowdoin)
M – Mike Von Kamecke (Salisbury)
M – Kyle McGrath (Gettysburg)
FO – Chris DeLuca (Cortland)
LSM – Connor Burgasser (Salisbury)
D – Justin Schneidman (Cortland)
D – Sam Love (Roanoke)
D – Tim Kurpis (Gettysburg)
G – Brewster Knowlton (WNEC)
Why you can’t beat me
My attack is perfectly blended. I’ve got Burton, who showed
last year – especially in the postseason – that he can
get his markers against anybody. He brings that pure goal-scoring
mentality, complimented by Kazimer and Hessler, who are just as
good at setting up goals as they are at scoring them. These three
are going to present a sliding nightmare for my opponents.
Further, I’ve picked my midfield not only because of how
well these guys fit my offense, but also because Smith and McGrath
can play enough defense. Sure, you can pick the best offensive
middies out there, but how are your boys going to stack up when
DeLuca is racking up faceoff after faceoff and they’ve got to
play defense? As for midfield offense, Von Kamecke is going to draw
the fourth pole, letting Smith steamroll one shorty or McGrath run
circles around the other.
It’s a pretty good bet the All-Coyne Team is going to be up
a half-dozen goals before an opponent finally manages a way to
touch the ball, and when they do, they are going to get roughed up.
Three giants with quality stick and athletic skills await, with
Burgasser giving me four solid poles. The only way the All-Coyne
Team could consistently have problems is with an attack that is
adept at converting from about 12 yards out – shots that bore
Knowlton.
