INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference announced Friday afternoon that Young Harris College junior attacker Bevan Pate has been named the 2018 GLVC Player of the Year in the sport of men’s lacrosse. Junior teammate Zach Stephenson was named GLVC Specialty Player of the Year, and their head coach, Forrest MacConnell, was selected by his peers as GLVC Coach of the Year. In addition, a pair of University of Montevallo newcomers – Kyle Little and Kyle Nichols – were respectively named GLVC Goalkeeper and Freshman of the Year. All five honorees were selected by the league coaches and recognized for their efforts at an awards reception on the morning of the 2018 GLVC Men’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament, which begins on Friday in Indianapolis. A total of 43 student-athletes were recognized as All-Conference honorees. Additionally, six student-athletes were named GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award nominees, while Montevallo was chosen as the team sportsmanship winner.
Pate becomes the first-ever GLVC Player of the Year for the sport in its inaugural season. He started all 14 games played in 2018 and scored a league-high 34 goals and was tied for second in the loop with 19 assists, which put him tops for points with 53 along with 3.79 points per game. In GLVC-only matches, the junior scored 14 goals with 10 assists for 24 points. The attacker’s mark for assists ranked second in the league and the points total, as well as his 4.80 points per game, were GLVC-best marks. Pate also won the season’s final GLVC Player of the Week award earlier this week on April 23, and earned a spot on the All-GLVC First Team.
Stephenson has been named the first-ever GLVC Specialty Player of the Year in the sport’s inaugural season. He started 14 of 15 games played during the 2018 campaign and tallied an overwhelming league-best 164 ground balls and 10.93 per game in those contests. For GLVC-only contests, the junior’s 65 ground balls were the most recorded as were his 13.00 per game. The face-off man had a .717 percentage, winning 233 of 325 attempts at midfield this season, which is second in the loop. His percentage for GLVC games, however, ranks first at .745 (82-of-110). Additionally, Stephenson was one of three unanimous choices on the All-GLVC First Team.
Little was voted as the first-ever GLVC Goalkeeper of the Year in the sport’s and team’s inaugural year. He was a two-time, back-to-back GLVC Player of the Week on Feb. 12 and 19 and is one of only two freshmen named to the All-GLVC First Team. The netminder started 13 of 14 games with a 7-7 record in just over 803 minutes of action, making 199 saves for a .603 save percentage. He also recorded a 9.78 goals against average and faced 548 shots. His save percentage ranks fourth while his 14.21 saves per game clocks in atop league annals. The newcomer started all five GLVC matches, making 79 saves for a .617 save percentage and allowing 49 goals for a 9.71 goals against average. The 15.80 saves per Conference game was second-best in the loop and his save percentage ranked fourth.
Nichols has been selected as the sport’s inaugural GLVC Freshman of the year in the Falcons first-ever season. On March 26, he was named GLVC Player of the Week and is one of only two freshmen named to the All-GLVC First Team. In GLVC-only games, the midfielder was ranked in the top-10 for seven different categories, including goals (8th, 8) and goals per game (9th, 1.60), assists (5th, 4) and assists per game (t-7th, 0.80), as well as points (9th, 12) and points per game (9th, 2.40). Among all 14 games played, Nichols scored 32 goals (t-5th) with 16 assists (4th) for 48 points (3rd), grabbing 27 ground balls. His mark of 3.43 points per game is second behind only Player of the Year Pate, while his 1.14 assists per game is fifth, and his 2.29 goals per game ranks sixth.
MacConnell becomes the first-ever GLVC Men’s Lacrosse Coach of the Year, as chosen by his five Conference coaching peers. The second-year skipper led his squad to a 12-3 overall record and perfect 5-0 ledger in league action, winning the last 12 matches of the schedule to help the Mountain Lions claim the inaugural regular season Conference title and top seed in the postseason event. The team enjoyed success over two ranked opponents this season with wins against No. 19 Florida Tech (8-5) on Feb. 18 and No. 19 Indianapolis (11-7) on March 17. MacConnell mentored two players to major postseason awards in Pate and Stephenson, adding 10 other All-GLVC selections to his résumé. Young Harris led the league in goals per game (13.47), assists per game (7.80), points per game (21.27), shot percentage (.363), man-up goals (1.40), penalty-killing percentage (.800), goals against average (7.87), and faceoff percentage (.686). In league matches only, YHC topped the loop in goals per game (14.40), assists per game (8.60), points per game (23.00), shot percentage (.416), penalty-killing percentage (.850), save percentage (.663), and faceoff percentage (.718). In addition, MacConnell had three players earn GLVC Offensive Player of the Week accolades and three collect Defensive Player of the Week laurels four times, as Sean Dever picked up the honor twice.
YHC highlights the All-Conference teams with a league-best 12 selections, but it was Indianapolis with the most first-team honorees (five). UIndy and Alabama Huntsville each had 10 total honors, while Montevallo and Maryville each picked up four selections, and Shorter had three. Joining Stephenson as unanimous first-team picks include sophomore midfield teammate Daniel Zimmy and UIndy senior long-stick midfielder Max Groves. The other Mountain Lions teammate recognized along with Pate, Stephenson, and Zimmy was junior attacker Bruce Silk. The other four Greyhounds on the First Team include junior defender Max Gerhardt, senior midfielder Sam Horning, junior attacker Parker Kump, and senior defender Jake Wittmeyer. Along with Montevallo’s Nichols and Little, Shorter University was also represented on the First Team by senior defender Morgan DeNoers, which rounds out the 12-team contingent.
The league also recognized Montevallo as its GLVC Men’s Lacrosse James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award team recipient, as well as six GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award Individual nominees. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school’s two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced in May.
A complete list of All-GLVC performers and major postseason award winners can be found below.
2018 MEN’S LACROSSE ALL-GLVC TEAMS & POSTSEASON HONORS
2018 GLVC Player of the Year: Bevan Pate, Jr., A, Young Harris
2018 GLVC Specialty Player of the Year: Zach Stephenson, Jr., Young Harris
2018 GLVC Goalkeeper of the Year: Kyle Little, Fr., Montevallo
2018 GLVC Freshman of the Year: Kyle Nichols, MF, Montevallo
2018 GLVC Coach of the Year: Forrest MacConnell, Young Harris
FIRST TEAM
Max Gerhardt, Jr., D, UINDY
Max Groves, Sr., LSM, UINDY#
Sam Horning, Sr., MF, UINDY
Parker Kump, Jr., A, UINDY
Jake Wittmeyer, Sr., D, UINDY
Kyle Nichols, Fr., MF, UM
Kyle Little, Fr., GK, UM
Morgan DeNoers, Sr., D, SU
Bevan Pate, Jr., A, YHC
Bruce Silk, Jr., A, YHC
Zach Stephenson, Jr., SP, YHC#
Daniel Zimmy, So., MF, YHC#
#Unanimous Selection |
SECOND TEAM
Luke LeVette, So., A, UAH
Colton Nall, Jr., LSM, UAH
Dom Guarino, Sr., SP, UINDY
Kenny Keyes, Sr., MF, UINDY
Shawn Kimble, Jr., A, UINDY
Matt Schoeneck, Fr., MF, UINDY
Tim McCarthy, Fr., D, MU
Tristan Snellgrove, Sr., A, MU
Jake Socia, Fr., D, MU
Thomas Vaesen, Fr., A, UM
Garrett Blake, Jr., MF, YHC
Sean Dever, Sr., GK, YHC
Matty Ledon, Sr., MF, YHC
Alex Venturino, Fr., D, YHC
*Extra Members Due to Tie |
HONORABLE MENTION
Kevin Coppinger, Jr., A, UAH
James Cox, Jr., MF, UAH
Connor Evers, Fr., D, UAH
Jacob Glen, Fr., MF, UAH
Tiernan Hart, So., D, UAH
Nik Kubik, Fr., SP, UAH
Nick Ranta, So., MF, UAH
Jack Utrevis, So., MF, UAH
Austin Barnett, Fr., GK, UINDY
Parker Lee, Fr., MF, MU
Bradly Lucas, Sr., D, UM
Garry Robinson, Sr., GK, SU
Tate Tatum, Fr., A, SU
Chandler Bradley, Sr., MF, YHC
Jake Dunlop, Sr., MF, YHC
Julian Infanti, Sr., LSM, YHC
Darrien Mask, Sr., D, YHC |
2018 GLVC MEN’S LACROSSE JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD NOMINEES
Tiernan Hart, UAH
Max Gerhardt, UINDY
Keegan Pierce, MU
Kyle Little, UM
Jakob Braun, SU
Bruce Silk, YHC
2018 GLVCMEN’S LACROSSE JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM AWARD
Montevallo