St. John's University Athletics
Defenseman Mark DiFrangia Named Unanimous Preseason All-BIG EAST
1/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Jan. 29, 2015
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's senior lacrosse co-captain Mark DiFrangia has been named a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-BIG EAST team, released on Thursday afternoon by the conference office along with the Preseason Coaches' Poll, which has the Red Storm picked to finish fifth.
DiFrangia is St. John's third unanimous selection to the Preseason All-BIG EAST team in program history and the first-ever Red Storm defenseman to earn the honor. Former St. John's All-American attackman Kieran McArdle garnered the honor and was named BIG EAST Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014, while LSM Dillon Ayers was a unanimous pick to the preseason all-conference team in 2012 and 2013.
DiFrangia became the first St. John's defenseman named All-BIG EAST last spring as the native of Fort Washington, Pa., earned second team honors. He ranked second in the conference and 11th nationally in caused turnovers per game at 1.86 as a junior, leading St. John's with 26 caused turnovers overall and adding 37 groundballs, second-most on the team. DiFrangia was named to the March 31 BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after tying a career-high with four caused turnovers and collecting four groundballs in a 14-7 victory at Providence, and corralled a career-high eight groundballs in the season-opening home victory over Holy Cross.
DiFrangia is one of eight unanimous selections to the 2015 Preseason All-BIG EAST team, joining student-athletes from Denver, Villanova, Marquette, Georgetown and Providence on the squad.
St. John's earned a fifth-place preseason selection with nine points in the 2015 BIG EAST Men's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll. Led by ninth-year head coach Jason Miller, who is the joint-longest tenured coach in the BIG EAST Conference, St. John's also received votes in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Coaches Pre Season Poll after debuting at No. 19 in last season's edition of the poll. Coming off a 7-7 finish (3-3 BIG EAST) that included narrowly missing out on a berth to the BIG EAST Championship in 2014, St. John's will tackle one of the most challenging schedules in program history this spring. The 2015 season will see St. John's face four opponents that participated in last season's NCAA Tournament as well as five teams ranked in the USILA Coaches Pre Season Poll.
The Red Storm returns 13 letterwinners this season while welcoming 12 new members to the program. Following a noon exhibition at Hartford this Saturday, St. John's hosts familiar rival Rutgers in its season opener at DaSilva Memorial Field on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 1 p.m.
2015 Preseason Lacrosse All-BIG EAST Team and Awards
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year - Wesley Berg, Denver, Sr., Attack ^
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year - Christian Burgdorf, Denver, So., Defense ^
Preseason All-BIG EAST
^ Ryan LaPlante, Denver, Sr., GK
^ Wesley Berg, Denver, Sr., A
^ Zach Miller, Denver, So., A
Jack Bobzien, Denver, Jr., A
^ Eric Adamson, Denver, Sr., M
Jack Curran, Villanova, Jr., M
Kyle Whitlow, Marquette, RS-Jr., M
Peter Conley, Georgetown, So., M
^ B.J. Grill, Marquette, RS-Jr., D
^ Christian Burgdorf, Denver, So., D
^ Mark DiFrangia, St. John's, Sr., D
Jarrod Neumann, Providence, So., D
^ Liam Byrnes, Marquette, RS-Jr., LSM
^ - denotes unanimous selectionĂ‚ÂĂ‚ÂĂ‚ÂĂ‚Â
Preseason Coaches' Poll
First place votes in ( )
1. Denver - 25 pts. (5)
2. Georgetown - 18 pts.
3. Villanova - 17 pts.
4. Marquette - 16 pts. (1)
5. St. John's - 9 pts.
6. Providence - 5 pts.
Keep up with all Red Storm lacrosse news at RedStormSports.com and on Twitter by following @StJohnsLax and using the hasghtag "sjulax."
