Griffin, Vasil Named USILA All-Americans

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. –Keene State College sophomore attacker Griffin Meehan (Simsbury, Conn.) and Eastern Connecticut State University junior midfielder Eric Vasil (Southington, Conn.) were each named to the 2010 United State Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division III All-America teams. Vasil is making his second appearance in the past three years, while Meehan is making his debut as an honorable mention selection.

The USILA honored a 12-member first, second, and third team, as well as, announcing 67 honorable mention nominees. Four student-athletes from a New England institution earned a spot on the top-three teams, while 15 other players joined Meehan and Vasil as honorable mention selections.

Meehan is the sixth Owls’ student-athlete in the 10-year history of men’s lacrosse being a conference-sponsored sport to be tabbed as the top offensive player. The two-time All-Little East, first-team pick became the first player in conference history to eclipse the 100-point barrier, putting an additional five markers between the watermark (105). Meehan has provided the offensive spark for the nation’s sixth-ranked scoring offense (15.05 gpg) by leading the country in points per game (5.53), and ranking second in goals per game (3.63). A prolific scorer, Meehan established three Keene State single-season scoring records this spring for goals (69), assists (36), and points (105). He has found the back of the net in all 19 contests this season, including penning a hat trick in his ledger 13 times. He used a balanced scoring attack—five goals and five assists—against UMass Boston to accounted for his season-high in points (10). Meehan registered the game-winning goal twice on the campaign, including delivering the decisive strike against the Warriors in the Little East Men’s Lacrosse Championship. He was honored as the most outstanding player of the tournament as the Owls raised their third conference championship trophy.

Meehan is the third Owl player to receive All-America recognition, joining Eric Momnie (2005) and Matt Johnson (2007).

Vasil has proven himself to be the nation’s premier faceoff specialist for two straight seasons, leading Division III in faceoff percentage (.761) and ground balls per game (14.1) for the second straight year. This year, he finished well ahead of national runner-up J.J. Miller of Messiah College (.741) and No. 3 Craig Bunker of Colby College (.724) in faceoff percentage and decidedly better in ground balls per game than runner-up Stuart Knechtle (11.47) of Gordon College. Bunker was a third-team All-America at Short Stick Specialist.

Over the course of the season, Vasil won less than half of his faceoffs in a game only once (against three different faceoff men from NCAA Division III national finalist Salisbury University). In eight conference games, he won 80.7 percent of his attempts, including 15-of-16 against Plymouth State, 20-of-22 against UMass Boston and 22 of 24 against Western Connecticut.

Against four national contenders other than Salisbury, he won 76.9 percent of his attempts (80-of-104).

In three years, Vasil is already the program’s all-time leader in career faceoff wins (671) and winning percentage (.693). He needs two attempts to break the current career record of 969. Vasil set season records for faceoff percentage, wins and attempts as a sophomore in 2009, and broke those records this past year. In addition to his nation-leading winning percentage, he set season records for wins (286) and attempts (376).

Vasil becomes the 11th All-America in program history. Two have been named to the second team and nine as honorable mention. He is the first faceoff specialist to receive the honor.

(Information in this story obtained from Eastern Connecticut State University sports information office)