Tar Heel Lacrosse Program Honors Team At 2019 Awards Banquet

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – 2019 alumnus Jack Rowlett took home two major awards Friday night as the University of North Carolina men's lacrosse program honored its 2019 team during its annual awards banquet at the Loudermilk Center For Excellence on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill.

Rowlett, a 2019 alumnus from Burke, Va., was the 2019 recipient of both the Turnbull Trophy as the squad's most valuable player and the Graham Harden Team Defensive Most Valuable Player Award. An All-ACC and All-America selection as a senior in 2019, Rowlett started all 15 games on defense last year. He led the team with 23 caused turnovers and was third on the squad in ground balls with 43. He scored four goals on the season.

Fellow 2019 senior Andy Matthews, a Baltimore, Md., attackman, won the team's Offensive Most Valuable Player Award. Matthews led all Tar Heel attackmen with 32 points in 2019 and tied for second overall on the team in scoring with William Perry with those 32 points. Matthews led the squad in assists with 19 and his 25 ground balls were the most amongst non-defensive players. He played in all 15 games, starting 14 times.

The Jay Gallagher Award as the 2019 most outstanding freshman was given to 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year Caton Johnson. Native of Lancaster, Pa., goalkeeper Johnson played in nine games last season and started the last six games of the campaign. He made 81 saves while allowing just 68 goals while facing 265 shots. He finished the year with a save percentage of .544 while playing 367 minutes. He was the first Tar Heel to be named ACC Freshman of the Year since 2011.

The Kevin Reichardt Memorial Award as the most improved player went to sophomore midfielder Ara Atayan of Bronxville, N.Y. Running on Carolina's second midfield unit, Atayan played in 10 games last year and had seven goals and three assists for 10 points while shooting 43.8 percent. He missed five games due to injury but made major contributions after not playing in a game as a freshman.

Senior long-stick defensive midfielder Jack Halpert of Baltimore, Md., won the squad's Needham Unsung Hero Award. Halpert played in all 15 games as a senior and ranked second on the team in ground balls with 51. He was just four ground balls behind face-off man Zac Tucci in that category. The senior played in 47 career games.

Senior midfielder Timmy Kelly of Lutherville, Md., was named the winner of the Ralph "Rip" Davy Award as Carolina most outstanding senior leader. Kelly started all 15 games his senior year, leading UNC in points with 36. He was second on the team in goals with 20 and in assists with 16. He was a USILA honorable mention All-America as a senior and joined Halpert on the 2019 USILA Scholar All-America squad.

The Danny Fox Memorial Award for Service was given to Matt Hudson, UNC's director of men's lacrosse operations for the past three seasons. Hudson is moving on from Carolina next week to be the head assistant coach for the men's lacrosse program at UMass-Lowell.

Other team award winners were as follows:
Dick Baddour Academic Success Award – sophomore midfielder Nate Miller of Centennial, Colo.
Holmes Harden, Sr., Award for most ground balls in a season – freshman midfielder Zachary Tucci of Bedford, N.H.
Dan Andrews Sportsmanship & Community Service Award – junior Patrick Lyons of Wilmington, Del.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ara Atayan

Jack Halpert

Caton Johnson

Timmy Kelly

Patrick Lyons

Andy Matthews

Nate Miller

William Perry

Jack Rowlett

Zac Tucci

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