Gaffney garners Academic All-District Distinction
5/17/2018 3:23:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Complete CoSIDA release
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Following a tremendous year on the field and in the classroom, Lehigh men's lacrosse sophomore Conor Gaffney has been named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District® 2 At-Large First Team, as announced on Thursday. The 2018 Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Gaffney owns a perfect 4.0 grade point average in Mechanical Engineering, while earning first team All-Patriot League honors as well.
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Gaffney is the only Patriot League men's lacrosse player recognized. He's also one of just six from Division I men's lacrosse honored on an Academic All-District team, the others being Josh Regan (Albany), Ben Reeves (Yale), Robert Shaw (Harvard), Chris Blewitt (Saint Joseph's) and Nick Griffin (UMBC).
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Gaffney is Lehigh's first Academic All-District honoree since Jonathan Stumpf in 2011, who went on to earn third team Academic All-America recognition. This year's Academic All-Americans will be announced in June.
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Last month, Gaffney became Lehigh's first Scholar-Athlete of the Year since Stumpf in 2011, and fourth in program history. Gaffney was just the second Scholar-Athlete of the Year from Lehigh to also be named first team All-League in the same season (the other being Michael Rabinovitz in 2002). Through three semesters at Lehigh, Gaffney owns a perfect 4.0 GPA as a Mechanical Engineering major, being named to the Dean's List every semester, garnering the Faculty Athletics Council Award as well and being named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.
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Tied with Navy's Joe Varello for first team All-League, Gaffney currently stands eighth among active players in career faceoff percentage (60.0). The league's leader in faceoff percentage this season (59.4 percent, 214-of-360), Gaffney impressed against some of the league's top faceoff specialists, including winning 13-of-21 against Navy's Varello in the regular season (who finished at 58.6 percent on the year), 11-of-20 vs. Colgate's Colin Orr (who won 58.9 percent in 2018) and 12-of-20 against Army's John Ragno (who won 53.7 percent). Gaffney won 17-of-20 at Lafayette, 16-of-23 against Cornell and 14-of-20 at Bucknell. He played a crucial role in Lehigh's 13-8 win at No. 18/19 Hofstra on Mar. 20, winning 15-of-24 against Kyle Gallagher, who entered the day at 61.8 percent on the season. In the Patriot League Tournament, Gaffney continued to impress, winning 10-of-18 against Colgate, 12-of-23 against Navy (including a perfect 5-of-5 in the fourth quarter and overtime) and 14-of-24 at Loyola.
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Gaffney was named Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Week four times in 2018, including a stretch of three straight weeks in March. He has won 10 weekly awards over the first two years of his career.
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The Mountain Hawks return a strong core of talent in 2018, highlighted by the current junior class which features Lehigh's top three scorers in Andrew Pettit, Lucas Spence and Tristan Rai who combined for 172 points this season (104 goals, 68 assists). Chick, junior Eddie Bouhall and freshman Teddy Leggett are among Lehigh's returnees defensively after combining for 85 caused turnovers this season, most in the nation among three teammates. Gaffney returns in the faceoff circle while James Spence returns in goal after tallying a 9.08 goals against average and 0.498 save percentage during his freshman campaign.
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Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Following a tremendous year on the field and in the classroom, Lehigh men's lacrosse sophomore Conor Gaffney has been named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District® 2 At-Large First Team, as announced on Thursday. The 2018 Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Gaffney owns a perfect 4.0 grade point average in Mechanical Engineering, while earning first team All-Patriot League honors as well.
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Gaffney is the only Patriot League men's lacrosse player recognized. He's also one of just six from Division I men's lacrosse honored on an Academic All-District team, the others being Josh Regan (Albany), Ben Reeves (Yale), Robert Shaw (Harvard), Chris Blewitt (Saint Joseph's) and Nick Griffin (UMBC).
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Gaffney is Lehigh's first Academic All-District honoree since Jonathan Stumpf in 2011, who went on to earn third team Academic All-America recognition. This year's Academic All-Americans will be announced in June.
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Last month, Gaffney became Lehigh's first Scholar-Athlete of the Year since Stumpf in 2011, and fourth in program history. Gaffney was just the second Scholar-Athlete of the Year from Lehigh to also be named first team All-League in the same season (the other being Michael Rabinovitz in 2002). Through three semesters at Lehigh, Gaffney owns a perfect 4.0 GPA as a Mechanical Engineering major, being named to the Dean's List every semester, garnering the Faculty Athletics Council Award as well and being named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.
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Tied with Navy's Joe Varello for first team All-League, Gaffney currently stands eighth among active players in career faceoff percentage (60.0). The league's leader in faceoff percentage this season (59.4 percent, 214-of-360), Gaffney impressed against some of the league's top faceoff specialists, including winning 13-of-21 against Navy's Varello in the regular season (who finished at 58.6 percent on the year), 11-of-20 vs. Colgate's Colin Orr (who won 58.9 percent in 2018) and 12-of-20 against Army's John Ragno (who won 53.7 percent). Gaffney won 17-of-20 at Lafayette, 16-of-23 against Cornell and 14-of-20 at Bucknell. He played a crucial role in Lehigh's 13-8 win at No. 18/19 Hofstra on Mar. 20, winning 15-of-24 against Kyle Gallagher, who entered the day at 61.8 percent on the season. In the Patriot League Tournament, Gaffney continued to impress, winning 10-of-18 against Colgate, 12-of-23 against Navy (including a perfect 5-of-5 in the fourth quarter and overtime) and 14-of-24 at Loyola.
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Gaffney was named Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Week four times in 2018, including a stretch of three straight weeks in March. He has won 10 weekly awards over the first two years of his career.
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The Mountain Hawks return a strong core of talent in 2018, highlighted by the current junior class which features Lehigh's top three scorers in Andrew Pettit, Lucas Spence and Tristan Rai who combined for 172 points this season (104 goals, 68 assists). Chick, junior Eddie Bouhall and freshman Teddy Leggett are among Lehigh's returnees defensively after combining for 85 caused turnovers this season, most in the nation among three teammates. Gaffney returns in the faceoff circle while James Spence returns in goal after tallying a 9.08 goals against average and 0.498 save percentage during his freshman campaign.
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Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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