Three Scarlet Knights Earn All-ECAC Honors
May 08 | Men's Lacrosse
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Three Rutgers men's lacrosse players earned All-ECAC accolades, the conference announced today, highlighted by Justin Pennington's (Flemington, N.J.) Rookie of the Year honor. Senior attackman Colin Checcio (Wayne, Pa.) was named to the ECAC first team, while sophomore defender Chris O'Dougherty (Kinnelon, N.J.) earned a spot on the league's second team.
Pennington had one of the most successful rookie campaigns in recent Rutgers history. The midfielder ended the season with 19 goals, good for second-best on the team, and eight assists, also the second-highest total for Rutgers. He had one game-winning goal this spring and a team-best 49 ground balls. He opened the season with a five-game streak in which he recorded multiple points and registered at least one point in all but one of Rutgers' 13 games. He was named the ECAC Rookie of the Week three times this season and also earned a spot on the conference's weekly honor roll. Pennington capped-off his rookie season with three goals in the team's final two games of the season, scoring once in RU's win over Army on May 2, and adding in two more against the UMass on May 5.
Checcio had a career-season this spring, scoring a personal and team-best 33 goals to earn a spot on the ECAC's first team. With his six assists, he finished with 39 points, also the highest total on the team. He led the Scarlet Knights in shots with 113 and, throughout the season, was among the ECAC leaders in shots, shots-per-game and goals-per-game average. Checcio failed to score a goal in just one contest this season and netted multiple goals in 11 of 13 games, including a season-high five against conference opponent Hobart in RU's 12-11 double-overtime victory on March 24. Checcio was named the Offensive Player of the Week on March 26 following his five-goal performance against the Statesmen. He also led the team with three game-winning goals this spring.
O'Dougherty earned his spot on the ECAC's second team after helping anchor a Rutgers defense that allowed just 9.69 goals-per-game and 36.6 shots-per-game. O'Dougherty and the RU defense held opponents to under 10 goals in six games this season, including three-straight contests from March 31-April 7. He was named the April 9 Defensive Player of the Week after holding Manhattan to just three goals and then-No. 8 Loyola to just seven in back-to-back games. The three goals scored by Manhattan marked the fewest scored by an RU opponent this season. O'Dougherty started all 13 games this year and had 30 ground balls on the season.
After closing out the 2007 campaign with two-straight wins, Rutgers (7-6, 4-3) finished the season with its highest rankings of the spring, earning the No. 18 spot in the May 7 USILA Poll and a No. 19 ranking in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Poll, released on May 7.
