McMonagle Named Ivy Player of the Year, Nine Selected All-Ivy

Men’s lacrosse team senior co-captain Matt McMonagle was named Ivy League Player of the Year yesterday in a unanimous vote of the Ivy League coaches. Six other Red players received first-team All-Ivy selections, and seven of No. 1 Cornell’s seniors earned All-Ivy honors, along with one junior and sophomore. In all, nine of the 20 first- and second-team honorees were chosen from the nation’s top-ranked team.
Senior attackers Eric Pittard and David Mitchell, midfielders (junior) John Glynn and (sophomore) Max Seibald, senior defensemen Mitch Belisle and Ethan Vedder and McMonagle all were honored as first-team All-Ivy selections. Senior midfielder Brian Clayton and classmate and defenseman Matt Moyer earned second-team honors.
McMonagle is the first Cornell netminder to win Ivy League Player of the Year since 1989 (Paul Schimoler ’89) and is the first goalie to win the award since Yale’s Joe Pilch in 1999. It is the third straight honor for a Cornell player, as well as the fourth selection of a Cornell athlete in five years. Midfielder Joe Boulukos ’06 was last year’s winner.
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McMonagle helped captain the Red, along with Belisle, to the only undefeated regular season in Division I men’s lacrosse this year, with a 13-0 overall record and a 6-0 league mark. Cornell won its fifth straight Ancient Eight crown this season, pacing the conference in goals scored per game and leading the nation in average margin of victory (8.0 goals per game, the best margin by more than 2.5 goals per game). The Red also led the league in save percentage, and placed second in goals against average and saves per game thanks in large part to McMonagle, who guarded the net for all but 7:24 of Cornell’s regular season.
The senior had a 6.45 goals against average (second-best in the Ivies) and league-leading 62.4 save percentage, both fourth-best in the nation. His 10.62 saves per game was also second-best in the Ancient Eight.
Along with McMonagle, Seibald and Belisle were unanimous first-team selections. Seibald, the 2006 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, was named first-team All-Ivy for the second straight season. Belisle matched the latter feat, leading the fifth-best defense in the nation (6.38 goals per game) while consistently marking the opposition’s top player — often shutting him down. Belisle helped hold fellow first-team selections and Peter Trombino (Princeton) and Nick Bonacci (Dartmouth) to a single assist each against the Red. Both attackers tallied 3.00 points per game for the season, tied for the eight-best average in the league.
Seniors David Mitchell and Eric Pittard spearheaded the country’s deadliest offensive team (14.38 goals per game) to earn first-team selections. Mitchell garnered his second straight first-team honor after repeating as the Ancient Eight’s goal-scoring champion, netting 34 goals for a 2.62 goals per game average — the nation’s eighth-best total — and leading the league in shots per game (8.31). Pittard, an honorable mention All-Ivy choice last season, lead the Ivy League in points per game (3.85), tied for the league-lead in points with 50, placed third in assists per game (1.69) and tied for fourth in goals per game (2.15). Pittard placed seventh in the nation in points per game.
Glynn had a breakout season after missing last year with an ACL injury, placing fourth in the league in both assists per game (1.62) and points per game (3.31). The junior started only five games but played in all 13 contests for Cornell. Vedder, who like Pittard was an honorable mention selection last season, scored five points (three goals, two assists) while picking up 37 ground balls.