Central Islip, N.Y. - Five East Coast Conference men's lacrosse student-athletes have earned top honors in the 2015 All-Conference awards as voted on by the league's coaches. Molloy senior attacker Joe Leonard (Hicksville, N.Y.) and NYIT senior attacker Luke Miller (Mastic, N.Y.) share the Offensive Player of the Year award, NYIT's Ed Torriero (Rocky Point, N.Y.) has been named the Defensive Player of the Year, LIU Post standout Adam Winne (Ridgefield, Conn.) takes home the Goalkeeper of the Year award, and Ryan Toomey (Hicksville, N.Y.) of Molloy is the Rookie of the Year honoree. Mercy College head coach, Jordan Levine, wraps up the major awards as the Coach of the Year.
Leonard and Miller share the honor as the top offensive player in the conference after sharing the title as the top scorer in the nation. Entering ECC Championship play, both average 5.36 points per game to lead all of Division II. Both have tallied an ECC-high 75 points, but have gotten to that total in different ways. Leonard tops the ECC with 44 goals and ranks third in Division II with 3.14 goals per game. Miller leads the conference with 47 assists and is tops in the country with 3.36 assists per game.
Miller, a four-time ECC All-Conference pick, wraps up his career at NYIT by earning one of the conference's major award for the fourth consecutive season. After earning the Rookie of the Year honor his freshman season, he went on to capture the conference's Player of the Year honor in 2013 and 2014 before being named Co-Offensive Player of the Year this season (the Player of the Year honor was transitioned to Offensive Player of the Year honor before the 2015 season). Leonard, who has been selected to the All-Conference team in each of his three years at Molloy, earns his first career ECC major award.
Torriero, the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, made the coaches' prediction look good by earning the distinction of the ECC's top defender in the regular season, as well. Torriero anchored a back-line that helped NYIT rank sixth in Division II with a 7.64 goals per game scoring defense and fifth with 10.93 caused turnovers per game. On the year, Torriero ranked seventh in the ECC with 20 caused turnovers and also scooped up 25 ground balls.
Winne has been named the top goalkeeper in the ECC after helping LIU Post to an ECC Regular Season Championship with a 12-2 record in front of the cage. Winne had the top goals against average (7.61) in the loop, which was also good for sixth nationally. In addition, he made 122 saves on the year and finished second in the conference with a .550 save percentage.
Toomey was the second goalkeeper to earn an All-Conference major award as the Rookie of the Year honoree. A four-time ECC weekly award winner (three-time Rookie of the Week, one-time Goalkeeper of the Week), Toomey finished with a 10-3 record, 130 saves, a 9.19 goals against average, and a .549 save percentage. His save percentage was good for third in the ECC.
After earning their first-ever berth in the ECC Championship with a 10-5 (5-3 ECC) record, Mercy's Jordan Levine has been named the Coach of the Year. Under Levine's guidance, the Mavericks have spent nearly the entire season ranked in the United States Lacrosse Coaches Association (USILA) Division II Top 15 poll, raising as high as No. 10.
After posting an 8-0 record in ECC play, LIU Post leads the way with the most All-Conference selections with 11. NYIT is a close second with eight selections, while Dowling has six honorees.
2015 ECC Men's Lacrosse All-Conference
First Team
A - Matty Beccaris, LIU Post
A - Joe Leonard, Molloy
A - Luke Miller, NYIT
M - Connor Drost, LIU Post
M - Tom Hughes, NYIT
M - Ryan Slane, LIU Post
D - Robbie Chiocco, LIU Post
D - Frank Gluchowksi, Dowling
D - Ed Torriero, NYIT
LSM - Matt Scalera, LIU Post
SPCL - Kevin Glueckert, Mercy
GK - Adam Winne, LIU Post
Second Team
A - Tom Engelhardt, Molloy
A - Shawn Murphy, NYIT
A - Jesse Wood, Mercy
M - Peter Clark, Molloy
M - Will Kistinger, NYIT
M - Robert Rossi, Mercy
D - Danny Chillianis, Mercy
D - Jon Lynott, NYIT
D - Justin Woodley, LIU Post
LSM - Peter Loparo, Mercy
LSM - Joe Morhardt, NYIT
SPCL - Dan Jeannotte, LIU Post
GK - Alex Seltzer, NYIT
Honorable Mention
A - Matt Bellando, LIU Post
A - Chase Fraser, Dist. Columbia
A - Brian White, Dowling
M - Anthony Berardis, LIU Post
M - Scott Reece, Dowling
M - Kyle Stockton, Mercy
D - Derick Danulc, Chestnut Hill
D - Steve Gruse, LIU Post
D - James Lang, Molloy
LSM - Frank Berry, Chestnut Hill
SPCL - Nick Sidaras, NYIT
GK - Ryan Toomey, Molloy
Co-Offensive Player of the Year: Joe Leonard, Sr., A, Molloy
Co-Offensive Player of the Year: Luke Miller, Sr., A, NYIT
Defensive Player of the Year: Ed Torriero, Sr., D, NYIT
Goalkeeper of the Year: Adam Winne, Jr., LIU Post
Rookie of the Year: Ryan Toomey, Fr., GK, Molloy
Coach of the Year: Jordan Levine, Mercy
