Thursday, June 2, 2005
CLARKE, GRIFFIN NAMED TO USILA ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS
MEDFORD – For the second consecutive year, the United State Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) has selected Tufts University lacrosse players Devin Clarke (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) and Bryan Griffin (West Islip, NY/West Islip) to the STX-GEICO Division III All-American teams. Clarke was placed on the Third Team midfield and Griffin was named Honorable Mention on attack for 2005.
The USILA has also selected Clarke and Griffin for the 64th Annual North-South Classic to be played at SUNY Cortland on June 11. The prestigious game matches the top Division III seniors from both regions against each other. Griffin will be unable to play in the game due to the knee injury that hindered him for most of his senior season this spring.
Clarke was named New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Co-Player of the Year. In 14 starts, he scored a team-high 28 goals with eight assists for 36 points. He led Tufts with 115 shots and added four man-up and two game-winning goals. He also corralled 27 ground balls, most among Jumbo offensive players. His five goals against Endicott on March 18 and against Wesleyan on April 27 were the most by a Jumbo this spring. Five times he fired more than 10 shots at the goal, led by a season-high 15 at Connecticut College on April 30.
Griffin had 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in the first three games before injuring his knee against Amherst on March 30. He missed the next three games and played only on man-up in a 9-7 Tufts loss to national runner-up Middlebury on April 13. He returned for the final six games and went on to finish 14th in the country with 4.64 points per game on 22 goals and 29 assists for 51 points. He was seventh nationally with 2.64 assists per game. He had a season-high nine points on four goals and five assists in a 16-9 win over #20 Bates on April 23.
Griffin, an All-NESCAC First Team pick, was a Second
Team All-American last spring and an Honorable Mention All-American in 2002. The
two-time NESCAC and New England Player of the Year graduated in May as the Tufts
all-time scoring leader with 134 goals and 101 assists for 235 points. Clarke, an Honorable Mention All-American last
season, scored 82 goals and 37 assists for 119 points in his Tufts career.
They will both play in the East-West Game at
Harvard University, matching senior players from all three divisions against
each other on June 4.
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