2013 NEAC All Conference Team
GANSEVOORT, NY – The North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) announced its 2013 men’s lacrosse All-Conference selections May 1. With First, Second and Third team honors awarded by position, 36 athletes were chosen by the conference coaches. Seven athletes from Hilbert, led by First Teamer Sean Purtill, were recognized for their contribution to lacrosse program’s most successful season since joining the NEAC league in 2012.
Keuka College almost swept the individual awards with Connor Latimer named Offensive Player of the Year, Scott Miller as the Defensive Player of the Year and Jason Paige as the Coach of the Year. Morrisville State’s Louie Geswaldo took home the Rookie of the Year honor.
Hilbert’s Sean Purtill was an All-Conference repeat winner, this year moving up to the First Team on Attack.
Fellow junior, Adam McCulle earned a spot on the Second Team as a Defender.
Five Hawks dominated the 12-man Third team. Senior John Pingitore picked up an Attack spot while junior Nick Kieffer earned the Face-Off Specialist position. Senior Ryan Wagner and sophomore Brendan Kane grabbed two of the three Midfielders slots and junior Sean Manning was another Defender to help carry the Hawks to their strongest season yet.
Purtill, a three-peat NEAC Offensive Player of the Week selection, finished the regular season as the NEAC point leader with 73 (38 goals). Pingitore and Kane finished with 29 points each as Midfielders. Pingitore scored nine goals in 10 games while Kane chipped in eight tallies in 13 contests. Because he was side-lined with an early season injury, Wagner only competed in six games in 2013. He still was able to net 13 scores and grabbed another Third Team selection for Hilbert.
Face-Off Specialist, Nick Kieffer led the league by winning .629 percent of his face-offs and earned his first post-season honor on the Third team.
Protecting frame, and doing a good job at it too, were McCulle and Manning. They worked with their fellow defenders to take away shooting angles, defend penetration and to transition the ball to their offense. Even though Hilbert played one more game in 2013 than in 2012, the Hawks limited their opponents to 15 fewer goals and 28 fewer shots this season.
Offensively, Hilbert increased their offensive results, jumping 1.75 goals per game while lowering their opponents by 2.09 goals per game.