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Ten Scots Take up Spots on All-Conference Lax Team
After hearing of its first-ever bid to the NCAA Div. III Tournament Sunday night, The College of Wooster men’s lacrosse team received more good news on Monday, as 10 of its players were selected to the All-North Coast Athletic Conference Team and Jason Tarnow was tabbed 2004 NCAC Coach of the Year. Tarnow guided Wooster to an 8-4 overall record this spring, marking the program’s first back-to-back winning seasons since 1995-96. More importantly, the Scots went 4-1 in league play to earn a share of their first NCAC championship, tying for first-place with Denison University and Ohio Wesleyan University, and they’ll get their initial taste of the NCAA Tournament-play this Sunday at Salisbury (Md.) University (16-0). Leading the Scots on the field throughout 2004 have been attacker Shawn Handy (Carrboro, N.C. / Chapel Hill), defender Dave Loudenslager (Hudson, Ohio / Hudson), and goalie Courter Shimeall (Worthington, Ohio / Thomas Worthington), all first-team all-conference honorees. Handy, a second-team all-conference pick last season after totaling 37 points, again is pacing Wooster in the scoring column with 40 points coming on an evenly distributed 20 goals and 20 assists. The sophomore closed the regular season with a four-goal, four-assist outing against Wittenberg University (May 1), tying his career-high for points in a game.
Shimeall, a sophomore, moved up from second-team to first-team All-NCAC this year after completing the regular season as the second-ranked goalkeeper in Div. III with a 5.52 goals against average. Overall, he’s tallied 94 saves against 54 goals allowed in 12 starts for a .635 save percentage, which rates No. 1 in the NCAC and No. 17 nationally. Shimeall made a season-high 14 saves in a loss versus Cabrini College. Ben Abbott (Yarmouth, Maine / Canterbury School — Conn.), Steve Burton (Shelby Twp., Mich. / Bishop Foley), Adam Chapman (Englewood, Colo. / Kent Denver), Alex Morriss (Chevy Chase, Md. / Bullis School), and Austin Taylor (Wooster, Ohio / Wooster) represented Wooster as second-team all-conference selections. As a freshman midfielder, Abbott has made a big impact on the offensive side of the field during 2004. In fact, he’s the Scots’ top-scoring middie with 11 goals and five assists, averaging 1.45 points per game. Burton’s first career postseason honor came following a campaign that has seen the senior attacker score 20 goals and assist on nine others. That brings his four-year total to 121 points, including 83 goals, which ranks him ninth all-time in school history in that category. Chapman, also a member of Wooster’s men’s soccer team, began his freshman year coming off of the bench, but developed into a starter on the Scots’ stingy defensive line. He was a steady defender, helping Wooster to a league-low 6.0 goals allowed per contest. Morriss is the long-stick midfielder on the All-NCAC Second Team for the second-straight season. The sophomore has recorded three goals and three assists this spring, while also being one of the team’s top groundball collectors and playing a key role defensively. Taylor also garnered his second second-team all-league mention in a row, despite having his season cut short due to a knee injury in the 10th game. Prior to that, Taylor, a sophomore midfielder, had tallied nine goals and three assists, and played a vital role on the defensive unit. Rounding out the Scots’ All-NCAC selections were senior attacker Mike MacMaster (Hingham, Mass. / Hingham), who has 29 points on 12 goals and 17 assists, and sophomore transfer Sam Carmony (Wooster, Ohio / Wooster), the third starting defender on Wooster’s top-rated defensive unit (see team stats above), both of whom received honorable mention. |
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