Feb. 24, 2005
For the second year in a row, junior A Pat Walsh (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh H.S.) has been listed among the 37 players on the Watch List for the Tewaaraton Trophy, awarded to the top player in college lacrosse at the end of the season. That announcement capped off a preseason of accolades for various Notre Dame players, which included four student-athletes mention on Inside Lacrosse’s preseason All-America lists.
Walsh is the only Irish player ever named the to watch list for the Tewaaraton Trophy, which is in its fifth year, though A Tom Glatzel was a finalist for the award in 2001.
Walsh, who also was one of the 15 nominees (seven attackmen, five of them returning this season) for the 2004 Tewaaraton Trophy, was named a third-team All-American by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) last season after being honorable mention as a rookie. He is the only Notre Dame player ever to earn All-America accolades from the USILA in both of his first two seasons. Walsh led all freshmen in scoring in 2003 and was named the Great Western Lacrosse League’s Newcomer of the Year. Last season, he ranked second among sophomores in scoring and seventh overall in Division I (after finishing 12th in ’03). He has led the GWLL in assists and ranked sixth nationally in both of his first two seasons, matching the Notre Dame record for assists in a season (32) in 2003 before helping the Irish lead the country in assists per game (7.9) last year. Walsh just missed becoming the first Notre Dame sophomore ever to hit the 100-career-point plateau, as he enters the second half of his career with 99 (41 G, 58 A).
Notre Dame will have a chance to see eight of the other players on the Tewaaraton watch list this season: Joe Boulukos and Sean Greenhalgh of Cornell (March 5, away), Villanova’s Jon Urbana (March 8, away), Jed Prossner and Bryant Will of North Carolina (March 12, Carson, Calif.) Brett Moyer of Hofstra (March 26, away), Dartmouth’s Ben Grinnell (April 2, away), and Denver’s Scott Davidson (April 7, home)
The Tewaaraton Award Foundation, in conjunction with the University Club of Washington, D.C., formally established the “Tewaaraton Trophy” on August 29, 2000. Today, the Tewaaraton Trophy is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award honoring the top female and male varsity collegiate lacrosse player in the United States.
Walsh also headlined players mentioned among the Inside Lacrosse preseason All-America picks, released in the publication’s Face-Off Yearbook. He was named to the second team, while junior D D.J. Driscoll (Downingtown, Pa./Malvern Prep School) was a third-team selection, and senior M Brian Giordano (Princeton, N.J./Hun School) and junior A Brian Hubschmann (Short Hills, N.J./Delbarton H.S.) were tabbed honorable mention.
Driscoll, a first-team all-GWLL selection in 2004, set a Notre Dame freshman record with 61 ground balls in 2003 and then stepped into a full-time starting role last year, usually drawing the assignment of covering the opposition’s top player – an impressive list that included Tewaaraton Trophy winner Michael Powell of Syracuse and preseason first-team All-Americans Joe Walters of Maryland and Jed Prossner of North Carolina. He is the only starting defenseman back in the fold for Notre Dame this season.
Giordano will serve as one of the team’s four co-captains while being an Irish starter for the fourth consecutive season. He is the most-experienced player on Notre Dame’s roster, having played in 37 of 39 games over the past three seasons. Giordano has been a first-team all-conference honoree in both of the last two campaigns and has accumulated 40 goals and 21 assists in his career, which has included 11 multiple-goal games (six in 10 contests in 2004).
After being a dangerous offensive presence in Notre Dame’s midfield in 2004, Hubschmann has made the move to attack – where he played in high school and as a freshman – for this year. He was third on the Irish in scoring last year, with 21 goals and 14 assists, and was a second-team all-GWLL selection. He led Notre Dame in both shots (88) and shots on goal (48) and was a key cog in the 2004 offensive unit that finished second in the nation in goals per game (12.50).
Notre Dame also had five players among Inside Lacrosse’s preseason all-GWLL first team: Walsh, Giordano, Hubschmann, Driscoll, and senior LSM Chris Richez (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport H.S.). Richez was one of two longstick midfielders on the list after making the transition to that spot in 2004 following two years as a shortstick middie. He still remained an occasional offensive threat, registering three goals and two assists, but this season Richez will be counted on to be one of the veteran leaders of Notre Dame’s relatively-inexperienced defense. He also will serve as one of the team’s co-captains.
Notre Dame, ranked 10th by Inside Lacrosse and 11th by Lacrosse magazine, returns 17 monogram winners and six starters from last year’s squad that was 7-5 (4-1 GWLL) and just missed the NCAA Championship, ending the year ranked 11th in the Inside Lacrosse media poll and 12th by the USILA. The Irish begin the regular season – which opens with four consecutive games away from home – on Sunday at #18 Penn State at 1 p.m.