Five Golden Bears Collect USILA All-America Honorable Mention Recognition
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 23, 2019) – Five members of the Western New England University men's lacrosse team were recognized with honorable mention All-America accolades from the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA), the organization announced on Thursday.
Senior attackman Jared Ward (Littleton, Mass.), senior faceoff specialist Hunter Cocks (Walden, N.Y.), junior long-stick midfielder Oskar Djusberg (Abington, Mass.), sophomore defenseman Mitch Weiss (Westfield, Mass.) and sophomore midfielder Matt Greer (South Windsor, Conn.) were all honored by the USILA following Western New England's 2019 campaign.
Ward, the CCC Offensive Player of the Year and an All-NEILA selection, produced a career-high 84 points (47 goals, 37 assists) during his senior campaign, the fifth highest single-season point total in program history. Ward finished his career with 225 points, good for second all-time.
Cocks, who was selected to represent the Golden Bears in the USILA Senior All-Star Game, won 293 faceoffs this season in 447 opportunities for a .655 percentage, which ranked 1st in the CCC and 24th in NCAA Division III. He also compiled 184 ground balls and tallied a career-best 12 points with seven goals and five assists.
Djusberg is Western New England's lone repeat USILA All-America honorable mention recipient following a junior season in which he started all 20 contests and totaled 49 ground balls, eight caused turnovers and eight goals.
Weiss, the CCC Defensive Player of the Year and All-NEILA honoree, ranked second on the team in both ground balls (64) and caused turnovers (14) en route to his first All-America selection.
Greer played a key offensive role for the Golden Bears as one of the top facilitators in the CCC with a league-high 38 assists this season. He also scored 17 goals and finished third on the team with 55 points.
Western New England's five All-America selections are tied for second-most in program history, joining the 2007 squad that went 17-1 and reached the NCAA Quarterfinals. The 2008 team had a program record six All-America honorees.
The Golden Bears posted a 14-6 record this season, including a perfect 8-0 mark in CCC play, and captured the program's eighth CCC title with a 9-8 victory over Endicott in the championship contest.
