STANDISH, Maine - Recent Saint Joseph's College men's lacrosse graduates Raymond Emery (Abington, Mass.) and Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) have been named Academic All-New England by the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA), the organization announced on Tuesday.
Members of the team are nominated by head coaches in Divisions 1, 2 and 3, and are comprised of student-athletes who have excelled both in the classroom and on the field over the course of their men's lacrosse career.
Emery, a Criminal Justice major, played in 67 games over four seasons with 117 ground balls and 65 caused turnovers. The senior captain was a two-time All-Conference defender.
Finn, a Business Management major, graduated earlier this month owning the program's career records for points (210), goals (169), shots on goal (324), and man-up goals (37). This spring the senior captain became the first SJC player to be selected First Team All-Conference in seven years 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.
This year saw an increase of 36 student-athletes who meet the criteria, which requires that nominees must have senior standing, a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale, and be a significant enough player that he was nominated for at least All-Conference selection.
Brown University led all institutions with nine candidates this year, followed by Wesleyan University, who led Division 3 with seven All-Academic selections. Overall, 51 different colleges and universities were represented across all three divisions.
Seven different schools from Division 1 made up the 26 All-Academic award winners, while 12 honorees represented six schools in Division 2, where Assumption, Bentley and Southern New Hampshire led the way with three student-athletes apiece.
Joining Wesleyan at the top of Division 3 were Clark and Rivier, who had six All-Academic selections each. In total, 90 Division 3 players representing 38 institutions made an appearance on this year's squads.
2019 NEILA ACADEMIC ALL-NEW ENGLAND HONOREES