Men’s Lax Dominates All-NEAC Squads

Juniors Connor Latimer (left) and Scott Miller (right) earned the NEAC's Offensive and Defensive Student-Athletes of the Year, the conference announced Wednesday. Keuka placed nine on the All-NEAC teams (photos courtesy of Ed Webber, Keuka College Sports Information Department).

Keuka College’s men’s lacrosse team closed out the regular season on a 10-game winning streak and claimed the North Eastern Athletic Conference’s (NEAC) regular season title after going undefeated on conference play.

On Wednesday, the Storm dominated the annual All-NEAC squads, placing seven student-athletes on the first team while claiming the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.

Junior attack Connor Latimer (Whitby, Ont./Genesee Community College) re-wrote the school’s record books while guiding the Storm (10-1, 7-0 NEAC) to the NEAC regular season title. He set a school record with 74 points and 38 assists in a season as Keuka led the NEAC in team goals (198), scoring average (18) and assists (131).

Latimer was chosen as the Offensive Player of the Year, junior Scott Miller (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan) was chosen Defensive Player of the Year while Jason Paige garnered Coach of the Year after another successful campaign leading the Storm.

In addition to guiding Keuka to the regular season title, Paige picked up career win No. 100 with a 14-9 triumph over Morrisville State March 30.

Latimer, Miller, sophomores Anthony Luppino (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan), Eric Saltrelli (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) and James Voigt (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan) and juniors Zach Koczent (Geneva, NY/Geneva) and Brandon DeCaire (LaFayette, NY/LaFayette) each earned first-team All-NEAC.

Junior Justin Strain (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) was named second-team All-NEAC while senior Mike Crumlish (Hilton, NY/Hilton) earned third-team All-NEAC honors, as voted on by the conference coaches.

Latimer, a two-time Junior College All-American at Genesee Community College, led the Storm in goals (36), assists (38) and points (74). He currently leads all of Division III in points/game (6.73) and assists/game (3.45).

Among the highlights for Latimer: he scored seven goals with three assists in a 25-10 win over Cazenovia (April 27) and had five goals and two assists in a 14-8 non-conference win over Elmira (March 23).

Latimer, an attacker, scored at least five points in a game nine times in 11 contests. He also added seven man-up goals, a man-down goal, 24 groundballs and caused five turnovers.

Latimer had two goals and three assists in the win over Morrisville State, four goals and two assists in a 19-4 win over Medaille (April 10) and finished with 10 goals and eight assists in Keuka’s three wins over the other NEAC playoff participants (Morrisville, Medaille and Hilbert).

Miller anchored a stout Storm defense that allowed only 82 goals in 11 games, an average of 7.45 goals per game. Miller started all 11 games and collected 29 groundballs, forced a team-most 21 turnovers and added one goal and one assist.

Miller and the Storm held six straight opponents under six goals during a stretch from April 3-24, including holding Hilbert to just one goal during a 14-1 win (April 3) and holding Medaille to just four goals.

Miller and the Storm limited the three other NEAC playoff participants to just 14 goals in their three wins. During back-to-back wins over Hilbert and SUNY Cobleskill, Miller led a defense that did not allow a goal for a span of 68 minutes and 22 seconds.

Luppino, a midfielder, totaled 33 points on 16 goals and 17 assists. He ranked third on the team in assists, fifth in goals and fifth in points as a two-way midfielder.

He scored 13 goals with 14 assists in seven NEAC contests and added three man-up goals for the Storm, who outscored the competition 193-52 during the 10-game winning streak.

Five times, Luppino recorded four or more points, including three goals and two assists during a win over SUNY Cobleskill (April 6), two goals and three assists in the win over Medaille and one goal and four assists during the win over Cazenovia.

He added 31 groundballs, including a season-most seven groundballs during the win over Cazenovia.

Saltrelli played in and started 10 games in net for Keuka, posting a NEAC-leading 6.67 goals-against average with a conference-best 60 percent saves percentage. He is ranked 22nd in the country for goals-against average.

In the month of April, Saltrelli allowed only 17 goals in 260 minutes of action as the Storm closed the year on a 10-game winning streak.

Among the highlights: Saltrelli and the Storm blanked Hilbert College for the final 53 minutes of a 14-1 win on April 3, then extended the shutout streak to 68:22 by blanking Cobleskill for the first 15:22 of a 20-5 win on April 6.

Saltrelli had three games with double-digit saves, stopping a career-high 16 shots during a 14-8 win over Elmira, making 12 saves during a 14-9 win over Morrisville State and adding 14 saves during a 19-4 win over Medaille.

Voigt, a midfielder scored 27 goals with 11 assists (38 points) and ranked third on the team in points and goals scored, and was fourth in assists. He recorded two man-up goals and scooped up 16 groundballs along with causing four turnovers.

Twice, he recorded seven points in a game, scoring four goals with three assists in a 21-6 win over SUNYIT (April 24) and adding five goals with two assists in the win over Cazenovia.

Koczent, a midfielder, won 56.1 percent of his faceoffs (78-for-139) and scooped up a team-leading 51 groundballs for the Storm, the two-time defending NEAC champions.

Against NEAC foes, Koczent won 62.2 percent of faceoffs (61-98) including winning 18 of 24 faceoffs and adding a season-most 12 groundballs during a 19-4 win over Medaille College April 10 in a rematch of the 2012 NEAC championship game.

He finished the regular season ranking fourth in the conference in faceoffs won.

DeCaire, a defender, started 10 games and collected 22 groundballs, forced 19 turnovers (second most on the team) and added one goal for Keuka.

DeCaire and the Storm held six straight opponents under six goals during a stretch from April 3-24, including holding Hilbert to just one goal during a 14-1 win (April 3) and holding Medaille to just four goals during a 19-4 win (April 10).

Strain collected 30 groundballs (fifth-most on the team) and caused 13 turnovers while starting all 11 games.

He caused a season-most five turnovers during a 20-5 win over Cobleskill April 6 and added six groundballs and two caused turnovers during a 14-9 road win over Morrisville State (March 30).

Crumlish, an attack/midfield, scored 20 goals with 25 assists and ranked second on the Storm in points and assists, and became the school’s career assists leader with 79. He finished the regular season ranked fifth in the NEAC in assists and eighth in points.

He compiled four or more points in eight straight games from March 16 through April 17, including setting career-highs in goals (five) and points (seven) during the win over Medaille.