2019 Men's Lacrosse All-Conference Team (PDF)
GREENSBURG, Pa. – The 2019 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Lacrosse All-Conference Team was announced as four programs gathered at Seton Hill for the playoffs starting Thursday afternoon.
Twenty-four student-athletes were named to either the first or second team and there were six total individual awards as voted upon by the coaches.
No. 1 seed Seton Hill is serving as host for this year’s tournament – the second consecutive season the Griffins have captured the regular-season title in the conference schedule.
Seton Hill led all teams in the league with 10 all-conference team picks with five on the first team and five on the second team. Mercyhurst had seven all-conference team selections, including five members on the first team.
Lake Erie earned six all-conference selections and Alderson Broaddus had one.
The Great Midwest Offensive Player of the Year was sophomore Mercyhurst standout Devin Pipher, last year’s conference freshman of the year award winner. Pipher was a big reason the nationally-ranked Lakers led the Great Midwest in goals, assists and points per game – the ultimate offensive trifecta.
He netted 35 goals and was the overall league leader in points with 74. He also topped all players in game-winning goals with four and paced the conference in assists with 39.
Pipher’s point total of 74 ranks second in single-season conference history only behind Seton Hill’s Jack Moran (93 in 2018).
Seton Hill cleaned up the remainder of the individual awards which included Goalkeeper of the Year Max Eismann, Defensive Player of the Year Brett Craig, Specialist of the Year Jay Scerbo, Freshman of the Year Christian Krauch and Coach of the Year Brian Novotny.
Eismann repeated as the top netminder as voted upon by the coaches as he earned defensive player of the week awards two times in the spring. He lead all qualifying starting keepers with a 56 percent save percentage and finished with 169 saves.
Craig, a talented long stick midfielder, is the first player in conference history billed as the best defender that was someone not named Greg Weyl from Mercyhurst.
Craig is a big reason for the Griffins’ dominance in the middle of the field and his 6-6 frame helped him get drafted in the fifth round by the Atlanta Blaze in the Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft.
Scerbo led all players in the conference in faceoff win percentage (.691) and he contributed seven goals and three assists while totaling a team-leading 124 ground balls. Another former conference freshman of the year, Scerbo started all 15 games he appeared in this spring.
Leading the Griffins to back-to-back regular-season crowns and on a quest for a third tournament title is talented head coach Novotny. He guided SHU to the national tournament semifinals a year ago and the Griffins have NCAA Championship aspirations once again coming out of the North Region.
Under Novotny’s watch, SHU has only fell in two regular-season games in the Great Midwest schedule since joining as an associate member in 2017.
Krauch was tabbed as the league’s best rookie as a freshman defender. He started all 16 games possible for the Griffins and logged almost 1,000 minutes with 11 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.