Athletic Awards Banquet'09

The Lasell College Athletic Department celebrated the end of the 2008-2009 year with their annual Athletic Award Banquet to celebrate each team and all the student athletes for a great year of competition.  The Banquet took place on Monday, May 4^th in the Athletic Center, hosting over 400 guests, including parents, faculty & staff, Lasell College President Michael Alexander, and the student athletes.

Each coach got a chance to recap their season, and hand out their conference, and team awards to their players.  In addition, the athletic department also distributed the "Scholar Athlete of the Year" award and the "Student Athlete of the Year" award to one deserving male and female athlete for each award. The event was emceed by Student Athlete Advisory Council President Tricia Culver and Vice President Kelly Barden.

The criteria for the Scholar Athlete of the Year award are as follows; student athlete whom has completed their last season of eligibility, been a four year member of a varsity team, played in at least 50% of eligible games, and has the highest overall cum of all senior athletes.  This year's award winners were Christopher Johnson of the men's cross country team, and Kayla McKenna of the women's cross country team. 

Chris has competed for four years with the Lasell College men's cross country team. During that time, he has competed in 30 meets as a Laser, and finished as the top Lasell runner in 23 of those competitions.  He ran a personal best of 28:08 in 2005 at the Elms Invitational, placed 4^th this season at Roger Williams University, 3^rd at the Rivier College Invitational, and notched his season best at Franklin Park with a time of 28:32.

Chris also helped the Lasers to a fourth place finish this season in the GNAC Championships and also serves as the men's cross country team captain.

Kayla has also has competed for four years and serves as the women's cross country team captain.  Kayla was the top finisher for Lasell in all of the races she competed in this season, running her personal best at the Pop Crowell Invitational, where she completed the 5K in 21:27.  Kayla was also the top finisher for Lasell at the NCAA Division III New England Regional's, finishing in 27:38.

Kayla earned a spot on the GNAC All-Conference team in 2007 for her seventh place finish at the Championships, and ran her personal best of 20:32 at the Gordon Invitational in 2007.

Kayla helped the women's cross country team to a fifth place finish this season at the GNAC Championships, finishing in 18^th place overall.

Chris will be graduating in May of 2009 with a degree in Sports Science, adding a minor in Business Management.  Kayla is a Graphic Design major, with a minor is Studio Arts, is in the Honors Program, and will also be earning her Bachelors in May.  Both Chris and Kayla are Dean's List students and are candidates for Latin Honors.

The Student Athlete of the Year award is given out to the two distinguished Lasell senior athletes whom have completed their last season of eligibility, have been a member of a varsity team for at least two years, is a starter or first reserve playing in at least 75% of eligible contests, and have made a significant impact on the team. The selected athlete must have also earned off-campus recognition for athletic achievements. 

This year's Student Athlete of the Year awards were giving out to Jose Guitian of the men's basketball team and Caitlyn Murphy of the women's lacrosse team. 

Caitlyn has had a tremendous career on the women's lacrosse team at Lasell College for the past four years.  During that time she has played in 58 games for the Lasers, scoring 240 goals, adding 46 assists for 286 total points in her career.  These stats place her second all-time in Lasell's record books in each of these categories. 

This season, Caitlyn led the Lasers in goals with 71, and total points, with 82.  She also scored four game winning goals for Lasell in a 9-7 season, and was conference Player of the Week three times. She finished the 2009 season ranked 14^th in the NCAA Division III statistics for goals per game, averaging 4.57 per contest, and 17^th nationally in total goals in the season.

Caitlyn was the Rookie of the Year in the NEWLA in 2006, the co-Player of the Year in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference in 2008, and was selected to the GNAC first team all-conference in the in both 2008 and 2009.  She was also selected to the GNAC All-Tournament team in 2008 and 2009.

Jose has had an incredible four year career as a Laser, playing in over 100 contests.  He holds the all-time career record for points and for rebounds at the college, ending his career with 1911 points and 1153 rebounds.  He also finished the 2008-2009 season 2nd nationally in rebounds per game, 7th in points per game, and 18th in blocked shots per game. 

Jose was selected as the MVP of the GNAC basketball tournament and was a first team all-conference member in 2008, and was the GNAC Player of the Year, first team all-conference, and an all-tournament selection in 2009.  He was GNAC Player of the week nine times this season, ECAC New England Player of the Week four times, and a D3Hoops Team of the Week Honoree three times this year.

Jose has also been recognized nationally this season, being selected as a top ten finalist for the prestigious Jostens Trophy award, a national award honoring the most outstanding Division III basketball players of the year based on athletics, academics, and community service. 

Jose was also selected to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-Region second team and to the D3Hoops.com All-Region first team.

To finish off an amazing career, Jose also became Lasell's first All-American candidate this year when he was selected as an Honorable Mention for the D3Hoops.com All-American team.

A complete list of all award winners is below:

Field Hockey:

All-Conference Second Team: Caitlyn Walker, Tia Pratt

All-Conference Honorable Mention: Meagan DeAndrade

NAC Player of the Week: Caitlyn Walker

NAC Rookie of the Week: Hannah Cebry, Christine Thornton (2)

Most Improved Player- Ainsley Wolfe

Most Valuable Player- Caitlyn Walker

Women's Volleyball:

Rookie of the Week: Meghan Crozier

All-Tournament: Amanda Major, Melanie Costa

Most Improved Player- Nicole Wetterman

Unsung Hero- Danielle Drapeau

Rookie of the Year- Meghan Crozier

Most Valuable Player- Kelsey Schmidt

Coaches Award- Melanie Costa

Men's Soccer:

All-Conference Second Team: Caitlyn Walker, Tia Pratt

All-Conference Honorable Mention: Meagan DeAndrade

NAC Player of the Week: Caitlyn Walker

NAC Rookie of the Week: Hannah Cebry, Christine Thornton (2)

Most Improved Player- Josh Martinez & Dylan Janosik

Unsung Hero- Sean Fisher

Rookie of the Year- Kyle Cronin & Rocco Mazzaferro

Most Valuable Offensive Player- Zach Gagne

Most Valuable Defensive Player- Paul Meucci

Women's Soccer:

GNAC All-Conference First Team: Alaina Mitrano, Meredith Hessler

GNAC All-Conference Second Team: Elizabeth Stickley, Jordynn Frollo

Goalkeeper of the Week: Jamie Remmers

Rookie of the Week: Jordynn Frollo

Most Improved Player- Olivia Tsakiris

Unsung Hero- Jamie Remmers

Rookie of the Year- Meredith Hessler

Most Valuable Player- Kaitlyn Fields, Alaina Mitrano

Women's Cross Country:

Rookie of the Week: Amanda Driscoll, Meghan Missett

Most Improved Player- Lauren Darrah

Rookie of the Year- Meghan Missett

Most Valuable Player- Kayla McKenna

Men's Cross Country:

Most Improved Player- Zach Lambert

Rookie of the Year- Grant Vantine

Most Valuable Player- Chris Johnson

Men's Basketball:

D3Hoops All-American Honorable Mention: Jose Guitian

Jostens Trophy Finalist: Jose Guitian

GNAC Player of the year: Jose Guitian

All-Conference First Team: Jose Guitian

All-Conference Second Team: Brad Caravoulias

D3Hoops TOW: Jose Guitian (3)

ECAC Player of the Week: Jose Guitian (4)

GNAC Player of the Week: Jose Guitian (9)

Rookie of the Week: Javon Williams (2)

Most Improved Player- Javon Williams

Coaches Award-  Richie King

Rookie of the Year- Kevin Richard

Most Valuable Player- Jose Guitian

Women's Basketball:

All-Conference Third Team: Shauna Kelly

D3Hoops TOW: Shauna Kelly

Most Improved Player- Amanda Driscoll

Unsung Hero- Katie Schumitz

Rookie of the Year- Kelsey Converse

Most Valuable Player- Shauna Kelly

Men's Volleyball:

GNAC Rookie of the Year: Brendan McGourn

GNAC All-Conference: Dave Rogers (2^nd Team)

Player of the Week: Dave Rogers, Joseph Lipski

Rookie of the Week: Brendan McGourn (3), Zack Smith, Trevor Foster

Most Improved Player- Trevor Foster

Unsung Hero- Tyler Hammond

Rookie of the Year- Brendan McGourn

Most Valuable Player- Dave Rogers

Baseball:

Rookie of the Year: Mike Mahoney

All-Conference Third Team: Josh Sullivan

Rookie of the Week: Mike Mahoney (2)

Most Improved Player- Steve Vanderwerken

Unsung Hero- Rich Balgowan

Rookie of the Year- Mike Mahoney

Most Valuable Player- Josh Sullivan

Softball:

All-Conference First Team: Ashley Laramie

All-Conference Third Team: Heather Rose, Heather Lynch,

    Tricia Culver, Michelle Torres

Pitcher of the Week: Jackie Loseff

Rookie of the Week: Jackie Saluti

Rookie of the Year- Jackie Saluti

Coaches Awards- Michelle Torres

                              Heather Lynch

                              Heather Rose

Men's Lacrosse:

All-Pilgrim League First Team: Mike Maggio, Matt Stambler

All-Pilgrim League Second Team: Brandon Keith

Pilgrim All-Academic: Matt Stambler, Chris Bulkley, Anthony Erz

Pilgrim Player of the Week: Brandon Keith

Most Improved Player- Chris Bulkley

Unsung Hero-  Mike Kelliher

Rookie of the Year- Adam Foss

Most Valuable Player-  Mike Maggio

Women's Lacrosse:

First Team All-Conference: Caitlyn Murphy, Cassandra Haase

Second Team All-Conference: Kristin Coderre, Christina Canavan, Meredith Hessler

GNAC All-Academic: April McGrath, Kristen Noble

ECAC Defensive Player of the Week: Kristin Coderre

Goalkeeper of the Week: Kristin Coderre (3)

Player of the Week: Caitlyn Murphy (2)

Rookie of the Week: Meredith Hessler (2), Lexi Giatrelis

Most Improved Player- Andrea Ward

Most Valuable Player-  Caitlyn Murphy

Strength & Conditioning Awards

Male Elite Performance Award: Steve Petrin

Female Elite Performance Award: Ally Bushey

Men's Team Performance Award: Men's Soccer

Women's Team Performance Award: Women's Soccer

Most Improved Performance Award: Kaitlyn Fields