View Final Nike/Insidelacrosse National Poll
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army attackman Garrett Thul was named the
first-ever Insidelacrosse.com National Rookie of the Year and a First-Team
All-Rookie squad honoree, while the Black Knights were ranked No. 9 in the
final Nike/Inside Lacrosse national poll of the season, announced Wednesday.
The Patriot League Rookie of the Year and second-team all-conference selection, Thul set Academy freshman standards during the season by leading Army with 41 goals and finishing second on the squad with 50 points. He finished the season tied for 17th nationally with 2.41 goals per game.
"Garrett's rise mirrored our rise," said Army head coach Joe Alberici. "What stands out about him is not the number of goals, but the number of big goals he scored. He's not only a great lacrosse player, but he's twice the person as well."
Thul's goals during the season included last-second game-tying tallies in overtime victories against Colgate and Bucknell that helped Army to an unblemished 6-0 Patriot League victory for the first time in program history. He also scored a big goal late in Army's monumental upset of two-time defending national champion Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
After starting the season with a 1-4 record, the Black Knights rebounded to win 10 of their next 11 games, including two wins over Navy and their first Patriot League Championship since 2003. Following an 11-8 win over the Midshipmen that clinched its first ever Patriot League Tournament crown, Army knocked off Syracuse, 9-8, in a double-overtime thriller at the Carrier Dome to advance to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals. Cornell halted the Black Knights' Cinderella run with a 14-5 victory in a contest played at Stony Brook.
Army started the year just outside the top-20 in the first ranking of the year, receiving 24 votes in the Nike/Insidelacrosse preseason poll. It is Army's highest finish ever in the history of the poll.
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