Seven MD1 Players Named Academic All-Americans

Seven Division I lacrosse players were named to the ESPN The Magazine Men's At-Large Academic All-American teams selected by CoSIDA. Mitch Belisle (Cornell), Nick Bonacci (Dartmouth), and Matt McMonagle (Cornell) were picked to the first team. Ed Douglas (Duke) was selected to the second team, and Greg Rommel (Syracuse), Paul Rabil (Johns Hopkins), and Ben Rubeor (Virginia) were third-team choices.

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ITHACA, N.Y. - Cornell University men's lacrosse alumni Mitch Belisle '07 and Matt McMonagle '07 have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large First Team, as was announced this afternoon. The pair becomes the Big Red's first Academic All-America selections for men's lacrosse since Casey Stevenson took home second-team honors in 2005, and are just the fourth and fifth players in history to be named Academic All-American, along with Troy Gorman '99 and David Key '01.

Belisle, the winner of the Schmeisser Cup as the national defenseman of the year, also earned first-team All-America honors this season after an outstanding senior campaign in which he anchored the third-best defense in the nation. A two-time first-team All-Ivy pick, he was routinely given the task of guarding the opposing team's most dangerous offensive threat and proved to be up to the challenge game-in and game-out. This past season, Belisle's defensive marks averaged 1.46 points per game against the Big Red, but 2.83 points per game against other opponents. Belisle started every game during his final three seasons and averaged 34 ground balls per season, including 42 in 2007. He graduated with a 3.81 grade point average in industrial and labor relations.

The unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year, McMonagle also earned the Ens. C.M. Kelly Jr. Award as the nation's most outstanding goalkeeper. A native of Bryn Mar, Pa., McMonagle finished his career as just the 19th three-time All-American in school history and just the seventh three-time first-team All-Ivy pick in Big Red history. He graduated as the winningest goalie in Cornell history and was also the winningest active goalie in Division I with 45 career victories. He finished the 2007 season in the top 10 in the nation in both goals against average (7.03) and save percentage (.616). A Tewaaraton Trophy nominee, McMonagle owns the school record for single-season goals against average (5.73 in 2006, third in NCAA history) and stands atop the school's career goals against average list (7.27, third in NCAA history). A physics major, he graduated with a 3.61 grade point average.

Unlike other Academic All-America teams in which the selections are all from the same sport, the At-Large men's team is comprised of athletes from fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Former Orange lacrosse player Greg Rommel (Syracuse, N.Y.) was named to the ESPN The Magazine Men's At-Large Academic All-America Third Team on Tuesday, June 12. Rommel is the first men's lacrosse player in school history to earn national academic All-America honors. During his career, Rommel was also a three-time, first-team, academic all-district choice.

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2007-06-13