INDIANAPOLIS – Ninth-ranked Seton Hill swept the first selection of Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Lacrosse Players of the Week as announced on Monday morning.
The regular season officially started for the defending Great Midwest champion Griffins on Saturday while No. 11 Mercyhurst also opened with a North Region clash against No. 8 NYIT.
SHU took down No. 15 UIndy on the road while the Lakers fell victim against the Bears in their season debut.
Seton Hill and Mercyhurst are both in their second year as associate members of the Great Midwest and have been nationally ranked in every USILA national poll since starting with the league.
Offensive Player of the Week
Bennett Johnson
Seton Hill
Attack
Junior
Annapolis, MD (St. Mary’s Annapolis HS)
One of the top point producers in the league as a sophomore, Johnson picked up right where he left off with his second career Great Midwest offensive weekly honor.
The first team all-conference selection attack scored three goals and assisted two others against the Greyhounds, a program that finished 7-6 in 2017.
Johnson scored twice in the opening period as Seton Hill opened up a 7-1 lead through the first 15 minutes of regulation.
Seton Hill’s first goal of the season came off the stick of Johnson on an assist at the 13:36 mark assisted by John Miller. His final goal of the contest was early into the third period to give the Griffins a 12-4 advantage.
Johnson was also credited with assists to teammates Nick Neferis (2017 G-MAC leader in faceoff percentage) and preseason All-American long stick mid Brett Craig.
Defensive Player of the Week
Max Eismann
Seton Hill
Goalkeeper
Sophomore
Rochester, NY (Irondequoit HS)
Eismann also earned his second career defensive conference weekly honor after landing a spot on the conference all-freshman team in his rookie season between the pipes.
Eismann was in midseason form against 15th-ranked UIndy in his first game of the spring. He made 11 saves in a contest where the shot differential was relatively even between both sides (SHU 38-30 advantage).
The sophomore keeper made four saves each in the third and fourth frames. His record was a clean 7-0-0 in games where he registered a decision in a timeshare with Merritt Bailey.
He was credited with his first win of the season with 56:42 of playing time as the starter. Bailey finished the final 3:18 on the field with one save.