Owls haul in USILA academic honors

LOUISVILLE. Ky. — For the second straight season, the Kenyon College men’s lacrosse team had four student-athletes earn the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division III Scholar All-America award.That quartet included seniors Joe Boesel, Finn Murray, Graham O’Brien and Mike Bazzano.

Additionally, the Kenyon Owls collected their third straight USILA Division III Team All-Academic award, which is bestowed on squads that reached a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the academic year. The Kenyon men had no issue clearing that criterion, as the 48 members of the team combined for a 3.38 grade point average for 2022-23.

To land an individual Scholar All-America award, a student-athlete had to be nominated by his head coach and had to be in his senior year of academic standing. The nominee had to have at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average and had to “behave in a manner that brought credit to himself, his institution, and to college lacrosse, both on and off the field.” Finally, the nominee had to be an All-American, a member of a North/South All-Star Team or an outstanding conference player.

Boesel, a midfielder who graduated with a degree in biochemistry, racked up 34 points on 17 goals and 17 assists in 18 games played this past season. Over the last few weeks, he was also named an All-North Coast Athletic Conference honoree, as well as a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District award winner.

Murray, a short-stick defensive midfielder, led the Owls with 20 caused turnovers in 18 games played. He also ranked first among all Kenyon field players with 60 ground balls. Prior to earning this award, he was named a first-team member of the All-NCAC Team and a USILA All-America honorable mention. He graduated in May with a degree in history.

O’Brien, an All-NCAC defender, started all 18 games, forced nine turnovers, logged 20 ground balls and was the anchor of a defense that allowed just 8.56 goals per game. In the classroom, O’Brien majored in political science and graduated last month.

Bazzano, like Murray, was an All-NCAC short-stick defensive midfielder. He missed a handful of games due to injury, but returned to play in 14 games and ranked second on the team with 15 caused turnovers. His season stat line also included 16 ground balls, a goal and three assists. Like O’Brien, Bazzano graduated in May with a degree in political science.

As a team, the 2023 Owls posted a 15-3 record, grabbed a share of the NCAC regular-season championship and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.