BALTIMORE ? The UMBC Retrievers stole the show at the America East men's lacrosse awards banquet on Thursday night as Brendan Mundorf (Player of the Year), Jeremy Blevins (Rookie of the Year) and Don Zimmerman (Coach of the Year) took home the hardware for all three of the conference's major yearly awards. All voting was conducted by the head coaches at the America East institutions.
Mundorf becomes just the second player in conference history to repeat as Player of the Year as he also won the award in 2005. The senior leads UMBC in points this season with 38 (21 goals, 17 assists) and is just the 100th player in school history to score 100 goals in a career. Mundorf has paced the Retrievers to their second-straight regular-season conference title and the No. 1 seed for the upcoming America East Men's Lacrosse Championship at UMBC on May 5 and 7.
The first Retriever to win the America East Rookie of the Year award, Blevins has started all 12 games this season in net for UMBC. The freshman enters the postseason with a 7.67 goals against average, good for 16th in the nation, and boasts a .520 save percentage.
In his 12th season with the Retrievers, Zimmerman becomes the first UMBC head coach to earn America East Coach of the Year honors. Zimmerman has posted an 88-83 record over those 12 seasons, including an 8-4 mark this season with an undefeated record (5-0) in conference play. UMBC finished the regular season ranked 13th in the nation.
Mundorf is joined on the first team by Albany's Jordan Levine, Frank Resetarits and Brett Queener, Binghamton's Sean Meluney and Stephen Smith, UMBC's Justin Berdeguez, Dan Carmack and Terry Kimener and Stony Brook's Jason Cappadoro.
Resetarits ranks second in the nation in points-per-game with a 4.38 average, while teammate Queener is 25th in save percentage (.520). Cappadoro leads the Seawolves in assists with 2.43 apg and also ranks third in the nation for assists per game.
The second team is made up by Albany's Matthew Green, Craig McDonald and Merrick Thomson, Binghamton's Kevin MeKeown, UMBC's Evan Kay and Drew Westervelt, Stony Brook's Rhys Duch, Chris Gignilliat and Bo Tripodi and Vermont's Sean Layton.
Thomson is the second-leading scorer for the Great Danes with 38 points, ranking 36th in the nation in points per game. McKeown has played in all 14 games for the Bearcats, earning a 9.08 GAA. Tripodi leads Stony Brook's attack with 2.53 gpg and ranks fifth in the conference. Layton leads the Catamounts in points with 42, and goals, 26.
Blevins is joined on the All-Rookie squad by Albany's Dan Barnes, Garrett Pedley and Corey Small, Binghamton's Jake Boyce, John Dreska, Chris Mulheron and J.P. Wioncek, Hartford's Dan Clough and Stony Brook's Cory Conway and Chris Gignilliat.
Several of the all-conference award winners will be in action this weekend at the America East Men's Lacrosse Championship on May 5 and 7 at the UMBC Stadium Complex in Baltimore, Md. The semifinals get underway on Friday, May 5 as top-seeded UMBC faces off against No. 4 Binghamton at 5 p.m., followed by No. 2 Stony Brook against No. 3 Albany at 8 p.m. The winners of these two semifinal games will meet on Sunday, May 7 at 12 noon.
Tickets will be available at the UMBC Lacrosse Ticket Booth on game day, beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday.