STANDISH, Maine – The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse postseason accolades have been released and six Saint Joseph's College players have been honored.
Senior attack Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) has earned First Team All-GNAC honors, senior defender Raymond Emery (Abington, Mass.), sophomore attack Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.), and sophomore LSM Alex Osmanski (Abington, Mass.) have garnered Second Team All-Conference accolades, and sophomore midfielder Zack Hamilton (Pepperell, Mass.) and junior face-off midi Shane Fors (Ledyard, Conn.) are listed on the Third Team.
Head Coach Bill Cosentino, now in his third year as the Monks' skipper, has been selected – by a vote of his peers - as the 2019 GNAC Men's Lacrosse Coach of the Year. Cosentino, who inherited a team that went 5-11 in 2016 and had missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, has steadily improved the program with a tireless recruiting approach and a well-rounded coaching staff. In his first season, the Monks went 6-9 and again missed the playoffs but in 2018, with a stable of talented recruits on the roster, Cosentino guided the Royal Blue to a winning season (10-9) for the first time in seven years as well as the program's second-ever GNAC Tournament victory. This spring, the Monks set new team records for victories (12), winning percentage (.706), and longest winning streak (10).
Under Coach Cosentino's watch this season, the Monks also broke the team records for goals (210), assists (136) and points (346).
Finn becomes the first SJC player to be selected First Team All-Conference since 2012 after scoring 49 goals with 14 assists for 63 total points with 12 man-up goals, 31 ground balls, and five caused turnovers in 17 games. He led the GNAC in goals and ranked second in man-up tallies during his senior season and leaves the program owning the team's career records for points (210), goals (169), shots on goal (324), and man-up goals (37).
Assistant Coach Jonathan Horgan '12 is the only other St. Joe's player to claim First Team All-GNAC honors – he was listed on the First Team in 2011 and 2012.
Emery collects Second Team All-GNAC honors for the second year in a row after picking up 24 ground balls with 14 caused turnovers while starting all 17 games this spring. The lockdown defender finished his career with a goal and three assists, 117 groundballs, and 65 caused turnovers in 67 games over four seasons.
Puleo earns Second Team All-Conference honors after netting 20 goals with 48 assists for 68 total points along with 37 ground balls and nine caused turnovers while starting all 17 games as a sophomore. He led the GNAC – and set a new team single-season record – in assists and ranked third in the league in points and ninth in man-up goals (6) this spring. Late in the 2019 campaign he became just the seventh player in team history to hit the 100-point plateau and heads into his junior season with 37 goals and 65 assists for 102 career points in just 35 games.
Osmanski claims All-Conference honors for the first time after picking up 59 ground balls with 21 caused turnovers during his sophomore campaign. In two collegiate seasons he has collected 78 ground balls and 26 caused turnovers over 34 contests.
Hamilton is listed on Third Team after enjoying a breakout sophomore season during which he scored 25 goals with seven assists for 32 points along with 26 ground balls in 15 contests. He ranked second on the team in goals and fourth in points and goes into his third collegiate campaign with 33 goals, eight assists, and 51 ground balls in 34 games to his credit.
Fors also collects All-Conference acclaim for the first time after ranking third in the conference in ground balls (83) and fifth in face-off wins (146) during his junior season. In a 13-7 victory over GNAC rival Rivier University on March 27th, Fors shattered the Monks' single-game marks for face-off wins (22) and ground balls (18) and after three NCAA seasons ranks second in program history in face-off victories (435) and third in ground balls (230) in 49 career games.
Under Cosentino's watch this spring the Monks went 12-5 overall with a 6-2 record in conference play en route to earning the #3 seed in the GNAC Tournament. Saint Joseph's hosted sixth-seeded Johnson & Wales University – the reigning conference champions – in the first round and suffered a season-ending 11-8 setback at the hands of the Wildcats on April 27th.