The All-Coyne Team: MCLA Division II

by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne Archive | Twitter

The All-Coyne would not be complete without a gamer like St. Thomas' Joe Costello leading the way.

The concept of the All-Coyne team is simple.

I choose my team – comprised of three attackmen, three middies, a face-off specialist, an LSM, three close defenders and a goalie – and give you, the reader, the rest of the players in the country to form a unit that could beat mine in a 15-minute game.

Admittedly, it's a false competition because you can't beat mine. My team is perfectly blended to make it invincible, event though there are plenty of combinations that might be able to stay close. For a couple of minutes, anyway.

Here's why you can't beat me:

Usually I try to massage my attack to make sure that it works stylistically, but as it turns out in MCLA-II the three best attackmen in the country mesh nicely on my team. Obviously, this is unfortunate for you.

The numbers speak for themselves: Hope' Eric Weber (85g, 35a), St. Thomas' Joe Costello (32g, 26a) and Utah Valley's Chad Frost (44g, 49a) combined for 271 points last year. They combine on my team to create an absolute nightmare defensively. Admittedly, it can be dangerous to have three Alpha-Attackmen on the same field, but with my coaching we'll make this work easily.

You might say there aren't enough balls on the field to keep these guys happy, but I'm not worried about Costello. Simply put, he's a winner. As such, he'll do whatever needs to happen to be successful. He displayed that when he won a national championship as the best midfielder in the division in '09 and then proceeded to move to attack for the sake of the team and led the Tommies to a second title last year.

While Costello could quarterback my attack, I'm going to have him work off-ball and put Frost in the playmaking role. Frost is the complete package and, in the case of a natural disaster and the game is actually competitive, he's the guy who'll be pulling the trigger. Despite the 120 points, Weber is probably the least accomplished of my attackmen and will benefit the most from slides. Advantage: me.

Because of the veteran nature of my attack, two of my midfielders are going to be younger – albeit still talented – players who will be willing to take a backseat and wait for their chance to make an impact. Both sophomores, Chris Cole (54g, 40a) from Cal State Fullerton and Sam Carlson (36g, 36a) of Davenport will have the confidence to succor the big guns, but still have the deference to get out of the way if things are rolling.

The third middie was a staple on last year's All-Coyne team, as well. Western Oregon's Ian Bohince (40g, 23a) provides my squad with an instinctive player who always seems to come up with a big play in unsettled situations. That will be a nice bailout to have. He also is an extra face-off man in a pinch.

Not that I'll need another draw man. Tennessee Wesleyan senior Anthony Hunt had a face-off percentage in the 70-percent range (according to his coach), and in the murky world of MCLA Division II stats, that's enough for me to anoint him the best guy in the league. So just cede the face-offs to me now and we'll move on.

On the near wing of face-offs I'll install Bohince, but the far wing will belong to St. Thomas' Pat McMahon. A senior that has operated in near anonymity with the poles in the Tommies' line-up the past couple of seasons, McMahon is not only a ground ball hose, but also matches up well with any offensive middie out there. I usually like to make sure I've got some depth at the defensive middie position, but I don't think it will be an issue with what I've thrown on the field so far. Plus, Cole and Carlson are athletic enough to step up if needed.

Even though there was some serious turnover among the high-end close defenders in MCLA-II heading into this year, I've locked down a trio that will give me my customary steady backline. SCAD's Dan Comite, Dayton's Steve Hurst and Westminster's Matt Lambourne will be my poles, and their consistency will bedevil an offense that will undoubtedly be trying to make up ground in a hurry.

My natural instinct is to put Westminster's Dallas McLellan in goal, but I'm actually going with Grove City senior Andrew Dymski. McLellan is a stud, but he's a quiet leader. With three fresh faces working together, I need a more boisterous presence in the crease to keep the defense clicking, so Dymski's my guy. His 66.4 save percentage in a strong conference doesn't hurt, either.

So there it is, your unbeatable 2011 MCLA Division II All-Coyne team. Can you stay close?

A – Joe Costello – Sr., St. Thomas
A – Chad Frost – Jr., Utah Valley
A – Eric Weber – Sr., Hope
M – Ian Bohince – Sr., Western Oregon
M – Samuel Carlson – Soph., Davenport
M – Chris Cole – Soph., Cal State Fullerton
FO – Anthony Hunt – Sr., Tennessee Wesleyan
LSM – Pat McMahon – Sr., St. Thomas
D – Dan Comite – Sr., SCAD
D – Steve Hurst – Sr., Dayton
D – Matt Lambourne – Jr., Westminster
G – Andrew Dymski – Sr., Grove City