May 9, 2008

Garden City, N.Y. - Junior attack Eddie Ege of Adelphi University and Rockville Centre, New York has been named the East Coast Conference (ECC) Men's Lacrosse Player of the Year, headlining the 2008 ECC All Conference Awards as voted by the conference coaches.

Ege led the Panthers with 22 goals and 52 assists for 74 points over 12 games including an 8-29-37 mark in ECC play. Ege also finished as the ECC leader in points per game (6.17) and assists per game (4.33) average.

Gordon Purdie of Adelphi was named Coach of the Year. In his first season with the Panthers, he guided Adelphi to a 7-5 overall mark including a 3-3 record in ECC play which included a late season victory over nationally ranked Dowling College.

Midfielder Michael Messina of LIU/C.W. Post earned Rookie of the Year honors after a freshman campaign that included four goals and five assists for nine points and 10 groundballs over 14 contests.

The ECC All Conference First Team included Ege as well as fellow Adelphi teammate Jesse Corben; Greg Cerar of LIU/C.W. Post; Nick Cotter and Joe Biondolillo of Dowling; Keith Galante of Molloy College; Mike Thon, Matt Spahr and Jason LaShomb of Mercyhurst; and Keith Henderson, Kevin Hennessy, Christian Scuderi and Brett Neal of NYIT.

The Second Team included Ryan Kelly of Adelphi; David Loftus, Matthew Dimler and Bryan Leonard of C.W. Post; Ryan Campbell, Kyle O'Brien, Kyle Rubisch, and Nick Tracey of Dowling; Chris Eline of Mercyhurst; Rob Humann of Molloy; and Matt Messina and Jared Garcia of NYIT.