2015 NCAA Player Tracker: Conference Games Underway
Player Spotlights
April 28th, 2015
(PC: Colgate Men’s Instagram // @ColgateLacrosse)
We are excited to follow all of our western players as the conference tournaments begin in earnest with NCAA tournament berths and seeds on the line. Last weekend we saw the very exciting ACC and Patriot League tournaments play out in thrilling fashion. Colgate topped Army in a Patriot League battle with Anthony Abadessa (AZ Force/WCS/Tropics) leading the charge with a goal and an assist, while Jack Stebbins (Tropics/Adrln All American) added a goal as well. In the loss, Army attackman Cole Johnsonlead all scorers with a three-point effort.
In the ACC finals, Syracuse edged Duke in one of the best games of the season. For Syracuse, Spencer Schmitt (Tropics), Henry Schoonmaker (Adrln All American) were representing the west while for Duke, Jake Seau (RC/WCS/Tropics), Chad Cohan (ADVNC/WCS/All American), and Garett Van De Van (Adrln All American) were in the Blue Devil garb.
This weekend plays host to the Ivy League, NEC, CAA, Big 10, SoCon and Big East conference tournaments with loads of our western boys representing.
Ivy League will be hosted by Brown University, which will have the countrys leading goal scorer on display in that of Dylan Molloy (WCS Coach), along with first line midfielder Baily Tills (Adrln Tropics/Adrln All American), and first year offenseive coordinator Sean Kirwan (WCS Coach) and his high powered juggernaut.
Brown will play Yale, who will be repped by Michael Keasey (Adrln All American/Tropics), & JW McGovern (Adrln All American). The other Ivy seminfinal will pit Princeton against Cornell. Eric Shansagrin (Alpha/WCS/Adrln All American), Bear Goldstein (Adrln All American) & Sean Doyle(RC/WCS/Tropics) will be suited up for this contest.
The CAA Playoffs will pit two great games that are sure to be gritty, blue collar close games. Drexel takes on Towson in a rematch of this weekend’s one goal game. For Drexel, Michael Kay (RC/WCS/Adrln All American/Tropics), Jake Gonzales (Adrln All American) and Mason Pynn will be the western Dragons, and Kodiak Adams (Adrln All American/Tropics) will be the lone western Tiger.
In the other semi final matchup Fairfield will take on UMass. For the Stags, Brad Nordstrom (AZ Force/WCS/Adrln All American/ Tropics), Spencer Noonan (Seattle Starz/WCS/Adrln All American/Tropics), Jacob Knostman (Seattle Starz/WCS/Tropics), Joe Rodrigues (ADVNC/Adrln All American) and Dave Fleming (Alcatraz) will all be rearing to go, while Grant Consoletti(Lazers/WCS/Tropics) will be the lone western Minuteman.
The Big East tournament will be littered with western talent this weekend and we are excited at some of the matchups that are on tap. Denver will take on Villanova in one semi-final. The Pioneers squad is over flowing with western players including: Michael Marcott (Oregon Starz/WCS/Adrln All American/ Tropics), Wes Berg (WCS/ Adrln All American), Eric Adamson (OC Kings/WCS/Tropics/Adrln All American), Mike Riis (Alpha/WCS/Adrln Tropics), Jack Pruitt (Seattle Starz/WCS/Adrln Tropics/All American), Grant Gravitt (Vegas Starz/WCS/All American/Tropics), Joe Reid (ADVNC/Adrln All American/Tropics), Sean Mayle (ADVNC/Adrln All American/Tropics), Jake Woodring (MN Elite/Adrln All American/Tropics), Colton McCaffrey (Adrln All American/Tropics), Ryan Laplante (Adrln All American), Ross Komenda (Seattle Starz/WCS/Adrln All American/Tropics) & Scott McGowan (Adrln All American).
In the other semi final we have Marquette taking on Georgetown. For the Golden Eagles Owen Weselak(RC/WCS/Adrln All American/Tropics) and Ryan Geller (AZ Force/WCS/Tropics) will be lined up awhile for the Hoyas, Eduadro White (Adrln All American/Tropics), Charlie Ford (Adrln All American) will be playing major minutes.
The Big 10 in its first year is shaping up to have a very tight conference tournament with the recent emergence of Hopkins. Kieran Eissler (Zip It Starz/WCS/Adrln All American/Tropics) and Wilkins Dismuke (Adrln All American) will be lining up as Blue Jays as they play Penn State. In the other semi final Maryland wil sport Lucas Gradinger (RC/WCS/Adrln All American/Tropics) and Dan Morris (Adrln All American) while their foe Ohio State will sport Jesse King (Adrln CHL) and Hank Bethke (Seattle Starz/WCS/Adrln All American).
In the NEC semi-final Bryant will do battle with Hobart. For the Bulldogs, Cameron Ziegler(Alpha/WCS/Adrln All American), Kyle Mummau (Alpha/WCS/Adrln All American, Tropics) & Collins Gantz (Adrln All American) will be leading the charge while Arik Andreeen (MN Elite/WCS/Adrln All American/Tropics) will be the lone Statesman in action.
Stay tuned for a D2/D3 update and NCAA tournament bracket announcements, pairings and predictions in next weeks tracker.