April 23, 2008

Wolverines Dominate Conference Honors

John Paul	Zach Elyachar	Trevor Yealy

Ann Arbor, Mich. - After opening the season a perfect 14-0, including 5-0 in Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association play, the University of Michigan men's lacrosse team has placed nine players on the All-CCLA 1^st Team, five players on the second team and two players on the third team.  The Maize and Blue also won both Player of the Year awards and Head Coach John Paul won his first Coach of the Year award. 

Freshman attackman Trevor Yealy (Pittsburgh, Penn./Upper St. Claire) earned the conference's top offensive player award after scoring 47 goals and two assists through 14 games.  Yealy has scored at least three goals in his last nine contests.  Named the Defensive Player of the Year, junior defenseman Zach Elyachar (Upper Saddle River, N.J./Northern Highlands) is second on the team in groundballs (57) and is undoubtedly the team leader on a defense that has averaged only 4.53 goals allowed in '08.  He was a third-team CCLA honoree last season.

Comprising the Wolverines' first-team contingent are Trevor Yealy and Zach Elyachar, senior captain and midfielder Mark Hammitt (Madison, N.J./Delbarton - Boston College), senior captain and faceoff specialist Brekan Kohlitz (St. Claire Shores, Mich./N.D. Harper Woods), senior captain and midfielder Bobby Morales (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice), senior captain and goaltender Graham Townsend (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville East), senior long-stick midfielder Alex Martusiewicz (Troy, Mich./Troy), junior midfielder Peter Vasher (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), and freshman defenseman Harry Fried (Needham, Mass./Needham).   

Second teamers include senior midfielder Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central), junior defenseman James Payer (St. Louis, MO./MICDS), sophomore midfielder Jordan Kirshner (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron), sophomore attackman Josh Ein (Potomac, Md./Bullis) and sophomore transfer and attackman Kevin Zorovich (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa - Marist).

Two players also made the third team in junior attackman Riley Kearns (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) and sophomore face-off specialist David Reinhard (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing).

After 11 years at the helm for the Wolverines, including a dominating 83-2 CCLA record over that span, Head Coach John Paul won his first CCLA Coach of the Year Award.  Paul's teams have won seven of the last nine CCLA Conference Championships. 

The Maize and Blue will be back in action next on Saturday, May 3, when they travel to Saline, Michigan for the CCLA Conference Tournament.  The Wolverines earned a first-round bye, and will meet the winner of Pittsburgh vs. Central Michigan.  For complete tournament information please visit www.cclax.org.

Contact: Joe Hennessy (jjhennes@umich.edu) - 734-276-8493