West Babylon, N.Y. - The East Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse All-Conference teams, as voted on by the league's coaches, were released on Thursday morning. NYIT attacker LeRoy Halftown (Cattaraugus Reservation) has been named the Offensive Player of the Year, NYIT's Ian Prate (West Islip, N.Y.) repeats as the Defensive Player of the Year, Ryan Gibbons (Seaford, N.Y.) of Mercy and Ryan Mello (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) of St. Thomas Aquinas share the Goalkeeper of the Year award, and LIU Post's William Snelders (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) is the Rookie of the Year winner. NYIT head coach, Bill Dunn rounds out the top awards as the Coach of the Year.
Halftown helped the Bears to an undefeated run through conference play by finishing as the league's second leading scorer. He found the back of the cage 46 times and added 15 assists to compiled 61 points on the season. The two-time ECC Offensive Player of the Week also was among the Division II leaders in man-up goals, finishing with eight on the year.
After earning a share of the award last season, Prate is the sole recipient of the league's Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2018. The senior long stick, who is also on the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division II Player of the Year watch list, was once again among the conference's leaders in ground balls and caused turnovers. He finished sixth with 60 ground balls and fifth with 25 caused turnovers.
Gibbons, a four-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection, had an outstanding season between the pipes for the Mavericks. He compiled an 10-4 record, 140 saves and a .591 save percentage, good for first in the ECC and seventh nationally. In addition, Gibbons led the ECC and ranked sixth in Division II with a 7.56 goals against average.
Mello is the other half of the Goalkeeper of the Year duo. Mello ranked second in the league with 187 saves on the season and bumped up to first with 87 during conference play. His mark of 12.47 saves per game was good for 11th in all of Division II. Mello ranked third in the ECC with a .557 save percentage, as well.
Snelders takes the top rookie honor after debuting as one of the most potent goal scorers in the nation. Snelders led the ECC and all of Division II with 4.15 per game. That brought his goal total to an ECC-high 54 goals in 13 games. Snelders, who led the conference with 66 points on the season, also finished fifth in the country by tallying 5.08 points per game.
NYIT's Dunn earns the Coach of the Year nod from his peers after the Bears compiled a perfect 6-0 record during ECC play. Dunn led the Bears to a 11-4 overall record and a No. 8 ranking in the latest USILA Division II Top-20 poll.
2018 ECC Men's Lacrosse All-Conference
First Team
A - Matt Chanenchuk, NYIT
A - LeRoy Halftown, NYIT
A - William Snelders, LIU Post
M - LaRon Hinton, Dist. Columbia
M - Ryan MacSpadyen, Mercy
M - Chris Martinez, Mercy
D - Frank Callan, NYIT
D - Nick Deluca, NYIT
D - Max Littleton, Mercy
LSM - Ian Prate, NYIT
SSDM - Kris Alvarado, LIU Post
FO - Connor Farrell, LIU Post
GK - Ryan Gibbons, Mercy
GK - Ryan Mello, St. Thomas Aquinas
Second Team
A - Briele Caples, St. Thomas Aquinas
A - Bobby Chillianis, Mercy
A - Tommy McPartland, Mercy
M - Dylan Harned, LIU Post
M - Alan Singleton, Dist. Columbia
M - Andrew Zito, NYIT
D - Ryan Baker, LIU Post
D - Tom Brennan, NYIT
D - PJ Usak, LIU Post
LSM - Anthony DeCeglia, Mercy
SSDM - Luke Baron, Mercy
SSDM - Eric Donahoe, LIU Post
FO - Telien Celentano, Dist. Columbia
GK - Bryan Ochs, LIU Post
Offensive Player of the Year: LeRoy Halftown, Sr., A, NYIT
Defensive Player of the Year: Ian Prate, Sr., LSM, NYIT
Co-Goalkeeper of the Year: Ryan Gibbons, Jr., Mercy
Co-Goalkeeper of the Year: Ryan Mello, Jr., St. Thomas Aquinas
Rookie of the Year: William Snelders, Fr., A, LIU Post
Coach of the Year: Bill Dunn, NYIT