April 26, 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C. – John Kemp (Potomac, Md./Georgetown Prep), a junior goalie on the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team, has been named a nominee for the 2012 Tewaaraton Award. He is one of 25 student-athletes up for the award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate lacrosse player.
Five finalists will be announced May 10 and invited to the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony, which will take place May 31 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The award’s original watch list was announced Feb. 15 with additions made March 20 and April 3 and was ultimately comprised of 82 players.
Kemp boasts a 10-1 record this season and ranks first nationally in goals-against average (5.67) and save percentage (.656). He is 13th in saves per game (10.9). Kemp and the Fighting Irish are currently riding a nine-game win streak and already have clinched a share of the BIG EAST regular-season title and the top seed for next week’s BIG EAST Championship.
Kemp is the only player in the BIG EAST to be named the league’s defensive player of the week twice this season. He was selected as the BIG EAST Preseason Co-Defensive Player of the Year and was a unanimous choice on the league’s all-preseason squad. Kemp also was named to the Inside Lacrosse preseason All-America third team.
Last season, Kemp earned honorable mention All-America honors from the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) as he posted an 11-3 record and ranked second nationally in goals-against average (6.60) and fourth in save percentage (.602). He also received a second-team all-BIG EAST citation in 2011.
Kemp and the third-ranked Fighting Irish will play host to No. 17 Syracuse at 5 p.m. (ET) on Saturday at Arlotta Stadium. The game can be seen on ESPNU/ESPN3.
First presented in 2001, the Tewaaraton Award is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award, annually honoring the top male and female college lacrosse player in the United States. Endorsed by the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders and US Lacrosse, the Tewaaraton Award symbolizes lacrosse’s centuries-old roots in Native American heritage. The Tewaaraton Foundation ensures the integrity and advances the mission of this award. Each year, the Tewaaraton Award celebrates one of the six tribal nations of the Iroquois Confederacy – the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora – and presents two scholarships to students of Iroquois descent. To learn more about The Tewaaraton Foundation, please visit www.tewaaraton.com.
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