LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Zac Asbury of Southwestern University was voted the Offensive Player-of-the-Year and Jack Ammons of Colorado College was selected the league's Defensive Player-of-the-Year in exclusive 2019 all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) voting by the conference's head coaches. Complete Release
In the same balloting, Parker Woo of Colorado College was named the conference's Specialist-of-the-Year, Tyler Santos of Southwestern earned Newcomer-of-the-Year honors while CC head coach Sean Woods was selected SCAC Coach-of-the-Year.
As for the All-SCAC team, Colorado College earned a league-high nine First Team selections while Southwestern followed with seven.
Asbury, a sophomore attacker from Thousand Oaks, Calif., set a new SCAC single-season mark for points with 99 on 40 goals and 59 assists in 17 games. His 59 assists also set a new league record for helpers in a single season, while his 40 goals – second in the SCAC – helped the Pirates establish a new SCAC single-season team-high for goals with 297. A two-time SCAC Offensive-Player-of-the-Week selection, Asbury scored two or more goals on 11 different occasions this year, highlighted by a six-goal, eight-assist effort in a 22-4 win against Cornell College on March 11th. He passed out four or more assists in eight games this season, led by a season-high eight helpers in both the win over Cornell and a 20-11 season-opening victory against Huntingdon. Asbury is the second Southwestern student-athlete to earn Offensive Player-of-the-Year recognition, joining Tyler Downing who took home top honors following the 2014 season.
Asbury received three votes in the SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year balloting, while junior midfielder Tyler Borko of Colorado College received the remaining first-place vote.
Ammons, a senior defender from Englewood, Colo., and a two-time SCAC Defensive-Player-of-the-Week, was named SCAC Tournament Defensive MVP after guiding Colorado College to its fifth league title in program history back on April 28th. He anchored a defensive unit that allowed just 12.39 goals-per-game and produced a 72.5 percent success rate in penalty killing with just 20 goals allowed in 80 attempts. Individually, Ammons caused an SCAC-best 22 turnovers and accumulated 49 groundballs in 15 games, while contributing in the offensive zone with two assists from his defensive position. He hit his high-water mark with six ground balls on two separate occasions, first in a 19-9 loss to Williams on March 29th and then again in the 13-10 SCAC Tournament championship victory over Southwestern. He registered two or more caused turnovers in seven games this season, led by a season-high five in the loss to Williams. Ammons is the fourth different Colorado College student-athlete to earn Defensive Player-of-the-Year recognition and the first since Chase Murphy earned the accolade back in 2014.
Ammons was a unanimous decision in the SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year balloting.
Woo, a senior from Seattle, Wash., was named the league's Specialist Player-of-the-Year after controlling opponents at the faceoff X throughout the season, winning 70-of-140 total attempts for a .500 average. Woo also added 61 ground balls, nine goals and one assist for 10 total points to his resume this season. He was the SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week in Week 2 of the regular season when he won 16 of 21 draws and picked up a game-high 13 ground balls in a Feb. 15 loss to No. 13 Christopher Newport. Woo is the first-ever Colorado College student-athlete to earn the Specialist Player-of-the-Year accolade.
Woo received three votes for SCAC Specialist-of-the-Year, while senior midfielder Logan Spalding of Southwestern University received the remaining vote.
Santos, a freshman long stick midfielder from San Diego, Calif., helped lead a Southwestern defense that ranked first in the SCAC in ground balls with 35.82 per game. He helped the Pirates to the top ranking in the league in goals against average (10.58) and a number two ranking in caused turnovers (9.18 per game). Individually, Santos totaled 41 ground balls, good enough for sixth in the SCAC, and caused 18 turnovers which was fourth-best in the league. Santos is the second Southwestern student-athlete to earn Newcomer-of-the-Year recognition, joining Austin Fox who took home the honor following the 2013 season.
In the balloting for Newcomer-of-the-Year, Santos received three first-place votes while John Lawrence of Colorado College received the remaining vote.
Finally, Colorado College head coach Sean Woods was named SCAC Men's Lacrosse Coach-of-the-Year for the second time (2013) in his career after he guided the Tigers to their fifth SCAC Tournament title with a 13-10 victory over Southwestern University on April 28th. After leading this year's squad to an 8-7 record, Woods, in his seven-year tenure at CC, has compiled an overall mark of 90-38, including a perfect 17-0 mark in regular season competition against fellow SCAC opponents. Woods now joins former Colorado College head coach Guy Van Arsdale with multiple SCAC Men's Lacrosse Coach-of-the-Year honors.
To view the entire 2019 All-SCAC Men's Lacrosse Team, click here.