Just a quick email here as we met last week to vote
on our team awards for the 2013 season. It
remains one of my favorite days of the season just as it was when I was a
player. Having teammates talk about the best
qualities in each other and what we value as a team is an incredibly rewarding
as a coach. To hear the older players
articulate what Middlebury lacrosse is all about is a great message for anyone,
especially our younger guys. It's not
the same without Peter there to usher nominees in and out of the room while the
team talks about them, but we always remind the team of that tradition as well.
Lou
Munro MVP – we had seven guys receive votes for this award including Darric
White, Mike Giordano, Nate Gaudio, Jon Broome, and Erich Pfeffer. The co – MVP's – Billy Chapman and Andrew
Metros were truly deserving for their contributions at
both ends of the field this year and interestingly enough were also our last
two Ric Rosbeck award
winners. Billy was a difference maker on
the defensive end, on the wing, and as I mentioned numerous times in my game
summaries, on the offensive end as well (4g,3a). Andrew was not only our top defensive
midfielder but turned into one of the best offensive midfielders in the league
by the end of the season (21g, 15a). We
have big shoes to fill all over the field next year but these two seniors will
be sorely missed.
Ric Rosbeck MIP – We also had
seven members of the team receive votes for MIP including John Montgomery,
Erich Pfeffer, Stephen Brown, Scott Redmond, Gabe
Weissmann, and Andrew Metros. The MIP went to Chris Peterson for the way he
elevated his game this year in his role as a defensive middie
in the 2nd half of the season. Starting
in the Trinity game we began to use Chris as a full time defensive midfielder
and by the end of the year Coach Ritter was putting him out there during
critical moments in big games. Chris was
playing at a very high level by the end of the season and it was all because he
had plugged in mentally, we're hoping he can bring the same kind of
determination and drive to the team again next year. It's also worth noting that Andrew Metros
was within a few votes of winning his 2nd consecutive MIP as he took his game
from being a solid contributor last year to arguably the most dynamic
midfielder in the league this season.
Baggattaway Award – members of the team that were
nominated and received votes included Zach Driscoll, Patrick Pembroke, Stew
Kerr, Billy Chapman, Jack Reilly, and Nate Gaudio. The award went to Johnny Duvnjak
for the leadership he displayed throughout the school year and the direction he
gave this group starting this time last year.
While guys like Zach and Billy are the ones who bring energy and some
levity to practice, Johnny is all business.
As I got to know Johnny throughout the recruiting process five years
ago, I decided he was exactly the kind of person and leader I wanted to have in
our program at Middlebury. There may
have been other guys out there with better 40 times and that threw better
checks but this kid was a winner and was going to make everyone around him
better. There were many great things
said about Johnny in the meeting but the one that may resonate the most with
this group is as one team member put it "30 years from now, Johnny is
going to be just like Bobo Sideli, getting everyone excited to go out to Vail
and stay involved in the program", high praise for Johnny indeed.
Finally,
we'll have a solo captain for the 2014 season for the first time since I've
been at Middlebury and since 2002? Nate
Gaudio was a unanimous selection by his teammates, something I haven't seen in
my 13 years of coaching college lacrosse.
Just as our graduating seniors did this year, we'll need a number of the
rising seniors to step up in order to lift some of the weight off of Nate's
shoulders. I have no doubt they
will. This departing senior class did an
outstanding job of showing the underclassmen how to lead in different ways by
all giving what they could to this team and by staying true to themselves. There was nothing forced, they showed
everyone how much they cared about the team by holding themselves and their
teammates to a very high standard. It
was fun to watch.
I'm
wrapping up my individual meetings with all of our returning players this
morning and it's exciting to think about who will nominated for some of these
awards next year. We certainly have some
big holes to fill but what a great opportunity for our younger guys. ONWARD.