Following another dominant regular season, Siena Lacrosse was recognized for their accomplishments in a big way Thursday night at the annual MAAC Awards Banquet in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. First-year head coach John Svec was named the Anaconda Sports MAAC Coach of the Year, while Bryan Neufeld earned MAAC Offensive Player of the Year and Tom Morr was tabbed the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.

Siena placed a program record five players on the All-MAAC First Team and for a third straight year tied a program record with seven All-MAAC selections overall. It also marked the fourth straight year in which Siena boasted the conference’s defensive player of the year and third straight season it was awarded the offensive player of the year.

Danny Martinsen, Chris Roth and Brendan Meehan joined Neufeld and Morr on the All-MAAC First Team, while Chris D’Alberti and Ken Wright earned Second Team honors.

Other major award winners included Canisius’ Tim Edwards who was named the MAAC Rookie of the Year, Face-Off Specialist of the Year Stephen Robarge of VMI and Long Stick Midfielder of the Year Jordan Houtby from Detroit.

In just his first season, Svec guided the Saints to the program’s fourth straight MAAC Regular Season Title. Under his leadership, Siena has achieved the program’s sixth straight 10+ win season and posted its third undefeated regular season in the MAAC, winning the conference’s regular season championship by three games.

The MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, Neufeld earns his second straight MAAC Offensive Player of the Year Award. He currently ranks second nationally in both points per game (5.29) and assists per game (2.64) and recently became the MAAC’s all-time leading scorer. A four-time MAAC Offensive Player of the Week this season, Neufeld was recently named an Inside Lacrosse Consensus Midseason All-American.

Morr was a four-time MAAC Defensive Player of the Week this season and also earns First Team All-MAAC honors for the second straight season. He currently ranks seventh nationally averaging 11.64 saves per games and made a career-high 20 saves in the Saints’ season-opening win over Hobart in the Carrier Dome. One of just 10 national finalists for the prestigious Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, Morr has posted a solid 9.56 goals against average and .556 save percentage this season.

A two-time MAAC Offensive Player of the Week, Martinsen currently stands sixth nationally averaging 4.14 points per game and his 2.07 assists per contest rank seventh. Martinsen, who recently became just the 22nd player in program history to eclipse 100 career points, carries a 31-game point scoring streak into the MAAC Championships.

Roth ranks third in the MAAC in scoring with 46 points, trailing only Neufeld and Martinsen. He’s tied for the MAAC lead with four-game winning goals and his 33 goals overall trail only Neufeld. Like Martinsen, Roth also recently joined the program’s 100-point club.

Meehan had an exceptional season in his first year both playing and starting on close defense. He ranks second in the MAAC averaging 1.5 caused turnovers per game and has picked up 31 groundballs.

D’Alberti has enjoyed a fine senior season at midfield, posting 23 points on 17 goals and six assists. D’Alberti, who posted career-highs of four goals and five points in a key non-conference road win at defending America East Champion Hartford Mar. 14, has also picked up 20 groundballs this season.

Wright has emerged as a starting defenseman this season and has appeared in 13 games, making eight starts. He’s caused eight turnovers and picked up five groundballs while adding an assist.

Additionally, Siena placed a total of five student athletes on the MAAC All-Academic Team. Honorees included senior Morr (3.41 – History) and juniors Dillon Boos (3.41 – Accounting), Kyle Curry (3.33 – Business), Collin Parkhurst (3.42 – Business) and Michael Scott (3.64 – Accounting). To be eligible for the MAAC All-Academic Team, a student athlete must complete two semesters at their institution and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a 4.0 scale.

No. 1 seed Siena begins its quest for the program’s third MAAC Championship Friday night when the Saints battle tournament host and No. 4 seed Marist. The Saints and Red Foxes face-off at 7:30 p.m. at Marist’s Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and the game will be web streamed online at MAAC.TV.

The preceding information was provided by Mike Demos, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications for Siena College.

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