St. Anselm Trio Named to All NE-10 Team
from press release
EASTON, Mass. -- Three members of the Saint
Anselm men's lacrosse program were named to the Northeast-10
All-Conference Teams, as announced by the league office and voted
on by the league's head coaches. This is the second straight year
that three Hawks have been honored by the conference.
Senior Kevin DeBenedetto (Reading, Mass.) was named as the
league's Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first
Hawk in program history to earn the award. In addition,
DeBenedetto also earned First Team All-Conference honors for the
first time in his career. Earning Second Team honors is
senior attack Matt O'Connell (Charlestown, Mass.), who leads the
Northeast-10 Conference in scoring and sits among the Saint Anselm
career leaders in nearly every offensive category. Freshman Joe
Robichaud (Madison, Conn.) has emerged as one of the top faceoff
men in
the league and has played a key role in the team's advancing to the
Northeast-10 Tournament. For his play, he was named to the league's
All-Rookie Team.
DeBenedetto has set career-highs this season in both ground balls
(68) and caused turnovers (54) while reaffirming his place as one
of the top defensive players in Division II. A three-time All-New
England player, DeBenedetto has the chance to become the first
four-time winner of the award in Saint Anselm history. On Monday
night, he was named as the Saint Anselm Male Senior Scholar-Athlete
of the Year. A member of Chi Alpha Sigma, the National College
Student-Athlete Honor Society, DeBenedetto will graduate from Saint
Anselm with a degree in international relations.
O'Connell leads the team with 57 points on 25 goals and a
career-high 32 assists, along with a team-best seven man-up goals
and 36 ground balls. O'Connell has points in every game this season
and has scored a goal in all but one contest. Entering the
Northeast-10 Tournament, O'Connell is sixth on the Saint Anselm
all-time scoring list with 162 points and is just five points from
moving into sole possession of third on that list. His 112 career
assists is second on the Saint Anselm all-time career list as
O'Connell is only the second player in Hawk history to surpass the
100-assist mark. His 57 points this season is the fourth-highest in
program history, while his 32 assists are fifth, tying his own
career high. Currently, O'Connell leads the Northeast-10 in points
per game and is second in assists per contest and is ranked among
the Division II national leaders in each category.
Robichaud has taken over as the Hawks' primary faceoff man over the
last eight games and during that time, he has won 88-of-147
attempts for Saint Anselm. Included in that run was an outstanding
game against Mercy College, where Robichaud won 21-of-23 faceoffs
in the narrow overtime loss.
