Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Place Four on All-Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Team
4/20/2015 6:45:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- On the eve of a big Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal matchup against Lehigh, the Bucknell men's lacrosse team learned that four of its key players have earned spots on the All-Patriot League Team. Senior midfielder David Dickson, senior defenseman Ben Kellar and junior long-stick defensive midfielder Alex Spring were all named to the First Team, while senior middie Ryan Joseph earned Second Team honors.
The three First Team honorees are the most for the Bison since they had four in 2012. Bucknell has now had at least one First Team All-Patriot League honoree in 15 consecutive seasons.
While Kellar, Spring and Joseph all garnered all-conference recognition for the first time, Dickson becomes a rare four-time all-conference selection. He was also a First Team pick in 2013 and was a Second Team choice in 2012 and 2014. Dickson joins Chris Cara '05 and Austin Winter '10 as Bucknell's only four-time All-Patriot League selections, and there are now 11 four-time honorees in the 25-year history of the league with Dickson and Colgate's Ryan Walsh joining the club this season.
Dickson has cemented a reputation as one of the top feeders in college lacrosse, he currently leads the Patriot League and ranks No. 8 in the nation in assists per game (2.4) with 24 in 10 games. Dickson set school and league records with 48 assists en route to Third Team All-America honors in 2013, and his 126 career assists rank third in both Bucknell and Patriot League history. That is also the second-highest total among all active Division I players, trailing only Lyle Thompson of Albany, who is the reigning Tewaaraton Trophy co-winner as national player of the year.
Dickson missed the first three games of the 2015 season with a wrist injury, but since returning he has not skipped a beat. In his 10 game appearances he has totaled 36 points on 12 goals and 24 assists, and he has logged at least one point in every game and at least one assist in nine of the 10. Dickson has dished out four assists on four different occasions, most recently in Friday night's 10-9 win over No. 16 Loyola, when he set up Sean Doyle for the game-winner 45 seconds into sudden-death overtime.
Kellar earned his first Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honor earlier in the day on Monday, and now he has an All-Patriot League certificate to go with it. The physical, 6'1" close defenseman missed his entire freshman year with a knee injury, but in the three years since then he has never missed a start. He is Bucknell's No. 1 defenseman this season and his having perhaps his best season, keeping the unit together despite the loss of two different starting backers to season-ending injuries.
Kellar's 23 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers are the most among the close defense corps. His Defensive Player of the Week honor came just days after making a critical defensive play in overtime against Loyola. After the Greyhounds won the faceoff, he made a clean strip of a Loyola midfielder and took off the other way. That led to Doyle's game-winning goal a few moments later.
Spring is having his best season to date. He leads the team in both ground balls (67) and caused turnovers (22). His 5.15 ground balls per game is the fourth-best mark in the Patriot League, and the best among non-faceoff specialists. Spring has now topped the 50-ground ball mark in all three of his seasons with the Bison, and on Friday he passed Ryan Goodman for second place on Bucknell's career GB list with 177. The 67 ground balls this season are now tied for ninth-most in program history.
Spring ranks 13th nationally in caused turnovers per game and 22nd in ground balls per game.
Joseph has enjoyed a magnificent senior season. The former walk-on leads the team in goals with 24 and ranks third in points with 30. The team co-captain entered the 2015 campaign with 14 career goals, and he has blown past that total this season.
Joseph has goals in 11 of Bucknell's 13 games this season and points in 12 of 13. He has registered a number of big goals and assists late in close games, none bigger than his overtime strike that beat Lehigh on March 7. Joseph had three goals in that game, and he recorded four goals and an assist against both Navy and Boston University.
In addition to the All-Patriot League Teams, the league office also announced the 2015 major award winners on Monday. Lehigh's Dan Taylor was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year. Colgate's Anthony Abbadessa was picked as the Rookie of the Year. Army's Sam Somers was named Goalie of the Year, and Navy picked up two awards with Chris Fennell cited as Defensive Player of the Year and Rick Sowell as Coach of the Year.
Bucknell is 8-5 overall, 5-3 in the Patriot League, and ranked No. 20 in this week's Cascade/Maverik Media Poll. The Bison are seeded third in the Patriot League Tournament and will host sixth-seeded Lehigh in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
