April 27, 2004
Notre Dame sophomore A Pat Walsh (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh H.S.) is one of 15 nominees for the 2004 Tewaaraton Trophy, awarded to the nation’s top men’s lacrosse player in the country at the conclusion of the season, it was announced Monday. In early May, five of the nominees will be tabbed finalists for the award, which will be presented at a banquet at the National Geographic Society Auditorium in Washington, D.C. on June 3. Walsh, who leads the Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) in scoring and assists and ranks fifth and sixth in the nation, respectively, was one of seven attackmen among the nominees.
Walsh is the second Irish player to be a nominee for the Tewaaraton Trophy, which is in its fourth year. A Tom Glatzel was one of the finalists for the award in 2001.
Walsh leads Notre Dame in scoring, goals, and assists this season with 21 goals and 25 assists for 46 points. The key cog in an Irish offensive unit that ranks third nationally in scoring offense (12.91 goals per game), he is the only GWLL player in the national top 20 in scoring (4.18 points per game). Walsh has at least three points in every game this season, scoring multiple goals on six occasions.
The Wantagh High School graduate led all Division I freshmen in scoring a year ago and was the first Notre Dame player ever to gain All-America accolades as a rookie, being named honorable mention by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association.
Walsh, the ’03 GWLL Rookie of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection, was the first freshman ever to lead Notre Dame in scoring. In addition to finding the net 20 times, Walsh tied the school record for assists in a season with 32, accumulating a total of 52 points.
Through 25 career games, he has 98 points (41 goals, 57 assists), putting him in a position to become the first Irish sophomore — and second-fastest player in games played — ever to post 100 career points. He already ranks eighth on the Irish career assist list and 16th in scoring.
Notre Dame has played against two of the other nominees this season: A Jed Prossner of North Carolina and A Michael Powell of Syracuse. The Irish will see three more nominees in their final regular-season game this weekend, as Maryland’s D Lee Zink, A Joe Walters, and D Chris Passavia were recognized among the candidates. The other attackmen tabbed as nominees were Army’s John Walker, Kyle Barrie of Johns Hopkins, Navy’s Ian Dingman, and Princeton’s Ryan Boyle, while M Walid Hajj and D Brodie Merrill of Georgetown, M Kyle Harrison of Hopkins, G Greg Havalchak of Rutgers, and Virginia’s G Tillman Johnson also were named.
The Tewaaraton Award Foundation, in conjunction with the University Club of Washington, D.C., formally established the “Tewaaraton Trophy” on August 29, 2000. Today, the Tewaaraton Trophy is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award honoring the top female and male varsity collegiate lacrosse player in the United States.
The Irish stand 7-4 (4-1 GWLL) and ranked 12th heading into Saturday’s 1 p.m. (EDT) game at #3 Maryland. Though #7 Ohio State has clinched the GWLL’s automatic berth to the NCAA Championship, which begins at campus sites on May 15, Notre Dame is under consideration for one of the 10 at-large bids to the 16-team national tournament.