LANCASTER, Pa. – Matching a school record set last season, eight members of the Ursinus College men's lacrosse team were selected to the All-Centennial Conference Team released Monday afternoon by the league office.
Senior goalkeeper Brian Neff, senior faceoff specialist James Fairchild, junior defensive midfielder Matthew Cioeta, junior defenseman Zach Jones, and sophomore midfielder Gerard Brown garnered first team recognition, while freshman attack Peter DeSimone, senior midfielder Steve Mussoline, and senior defenseman Patrick O'Donoghue were all honored on the second team.
Two Bears collected major awards from the league's head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own players. Neff was named Defensive Player of the Year, and DeSimone grabbed Rookie of the Year laurels for Ursinus, which finished the season 14-3 overall and reached the CC title game for the second year in a row.
Half of the Bears' all-conference honorees were repeat selections, a quartet led by Neff, who became the second consecutive Ursinus player to grab the league's top defensive honor; Ryan Ridinger was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2015. Neff is the 26th player in CC history - and the first for Ursinus - to earn three consecutive first team nods. Fairchild, O'Donoghue, and Jones were all second team honorees a year ago.
Neff finished the 2016 campaign ranked 18th in Division III in goals-against average (7.25) and was fifth in the conference with a 55.8 save percentage, which jumped to 60.2 in league play. A two-time USILA All-American, Neff ended his outstanding career as one of only six goalkeepers in CC history to reach 700 career saves, hitting that milestone in a victory over Franklin & Marshall in the conference semifinals. Neff ranks third all-time in conference history with 45 career wins. A standout in the classroom as well as on the field, Neff was one of five players named Academic All-Centennial, which recognizes juniors and seniors on the all-conference roster with a 3.40 cumulative grade point average.
Fairchild topped the conference by a wide margin with a program-record 198 faceoff wins, which left him just two shy of becoming the third player in conference history to reach 200 in a single season. With seven faceoff wins in the CC championship game at Gettysburg, Fairchild surpassed Shawn Caven for the all-time Ursinus record with 455. He also led the CC with a school-record 82 ground balls and dished out the first two assists of his career.
Jones was a key cog in a Bears defense that finished the season ranked 26th in Division III in goals-against average (7.35). He started all 15 games in which he appeared, recording 19 ground balls and nine caused turnovers.
Cioeta is an all-conference selection for the first time after a standout season in the Ursinus midfield. Cioeta finished second on the team in caused turnovers (13) and tied for second in ground balls (50), also contributing 10 goals and 10 assists in 17 games (13 starts).
A three-goal, five-assist effort in the season opener was only a precursor to a record-setting year for Brown, who shattered the school mark for assists in a season with 37. Brown registered multiple assists in each of the first seven games, and has posted six games of three helpers or more. Brown was fifth on the team with 15 goals and scooped up 19 ground balls. The sophomore's 54 assists are the third-most in CC history for a player in his first two seasons, and Brown's 52 points were the most by a Bear since Dane Mangin registered 53 in 2006.
DeSimone is the first player in program history to be chosen as the league's the Rookie of the Year. The freshman turned in a remarkable first season for the Bears, leading all conference first-years in goals (24), assists (19), and points (43). A two-time CC Offensive Player of the Week, DeSimone registered three hat-tricks and scored a goal in 13 of his 16 games, adding 27 ground balls to his ledger. The rookie exploded for 28 points in a six-game span during the middle of the 2016 campaign, including a four-goal, four-assist outburst against Swarthmore that served as the highest single-game point total by an Ursinus player since 2007. He had a goal and four assists in a win at Franklin & Marshall the following game before coming back with four goals and an assist against Dickinson.
Mussoline caught fire after a quiet start, tallying six hat-tricks over the last 11 games to take over the team lead with a career-high 31 goals. Mussoline notched five goals in regular-season routs of Widener and F&M and has 13 in his last four outings, including a four-goal, two-assist performance in the CC semifinal win over the Diplomats that marked the most points ever by a Bear in a conference playoff game. The senior tallied six man-up goals on the year, also adding seven assists, ten ground balls, and three caused turnovers.
Serving as a co-captain alongside Neff and Panaccione, O'Donoghue made a smooth transition to close defense as a senior, leading the team and tying for fourth in the CC with 31 caused turnovers, believed to be a program record, in addition to 50 ground balls. O'Donoghue forced at least two miscues in ten games this season, recording four in triumphs over Dickinson and Haverford. His ten ground balls against Mary Washington were the most by an Ursinus player in two years.
Neff was joined on the CC's Spring Academic Honor Roll by senior Liam Duke, junior Brad Garcia, and sophomore Chris Husson.
Senior midfielder Collin Sullivan was honored on the All-Sportsmanship Team.