There are five men’s finalists for the 2017 Tewaaraton Award which goes to the nations most outstanding college lacrosse player. Tomorrow nights ceremony is held at the Smithsonian Institutes Museum of the American Indian, in Washington DC.
The five finalists are all great players ; Loyola’s Sophomore Attackman- Pat Spencer, Yale’s Junior Attackman Ben Reeves, Denver’s face off specialist/ Junior Midfielder Trevor Baptiste, UAlbany’s Junior Attackman Connor Fields, and Maryland’s Senior Attackman Matt Rambo.
I feel it’s pretty much come down to a two horse race as they reach the final stretch between Connor Fields and Matt Rambo.Let’s look at the tale of the tape and make a case for both.
UAlbany’s Connor Fields netted 55 goals and dished out 62 assists for a total of 117 points. This is the 4th highest point total in NCAA Division I Men’s lacrosse history. The other three you may have heard of: Lyle Thompson 128 and 121, and Miles Thompson 119 only a few years ago. Fields also led all of Division I with 6.75 points per game average and led UAlbany who had the highest scoring offense in Division I with over 15 goals per game. Fields is also only the 7th player in NCAA history to record 50 goals/50 assists in a single season.
Maryland’ s Matt Rambo banged home 42 goals and passed out 45 assists on the season. In head to head matchup vs Fields and& UAlbany inthe NCAA quarterfinals, Rambo scored 4 goals & 4 assists to help defeat UAlbany 18-9. Rambo finished his career as the Terps all time leading scorer. Rambo helped lead Maryland to its first National title in 42 years (with the Terps last winning in 1975) even though he only had 1 goal and 1 assist in the championship game versus Ohio state.
It is important to note that the Tewaaraton voting includes postseason games not just regular season. My heart pulls for Connor Fields as a UAlbany Alum , but by head tells me Matt Rambo leading his team to a very long overdue National Championship will take home the Tewaaraton.
Either way both players provided many great moments all season long and are great ambassadors of the game. Rambo’s college career is over, but Fields still has his senior season left and it should be a fun one, especially with the opportunity to play side by side with incoming top recruit Tehoka Nanticoke.
We very well might be talking about both of them next year for the Tewaaraton! That’s just my opinion , what’s yours ?? I’d like to hear your thoughts and or predictions so have at it!
