Lacrosse Magazine, May 21, 2007, Monday

Lacrosse Magazine, May 21, 2007, Monday

McMonagle, Uceny Take Home Outstanding Senior Athlete Awards At Senior Banquet

Baines, Belisle and Naeve also capture major individual awards on Monday evening


The Big Red announced its Senior Awards on Monday.


http://laxmagazine.cstv.com/sports/m-lacros/spec-rel/052107aaq.html

May 21, 2007

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell seniors Matt McMonagle (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) and Morgan Uceny (Plymouth, Ind.) were recipients of the Charles H. Moore Outstanding Senior Varsity Athlete Award on Monday evening at the school's annual senior athletics banquet. Emily Baines (Naperville, Ill.) and Andrew Naeve (Miles, Iowa) both earned the Ronald P. Lynch Senior Spirit Award, given to student-athletes whose leadership on and off the field models the ideals of the Big Red athletics department. Mitch Belisle (Brewster, N.Y.) was recognized with the Mario St. George Boiardi '04 Leadership Award for most embodying leadership, athleticism and a strong work ethic.

The 2007 Ivy League Men's Lacrosse Player of the Year, McMonagle is the 19th three-time All-American in school history. A first-team All-America pick as a senior, he was a second-team selection as a junior and earned an honorable mention nod as a sophomore. A three-time first-team All-Ivy pick (the seventh in school history), the senior netminder is the winningest goalie in Cornell history and is also the winningest active goalie in Division I with 45 career victories to date. He currently ranks third in the nation in both goals against average (6.69) and save percentage (.628). A Tewaaraton Trophy nominee, McMonagle owns the school record for single-season goals against average (5.73 in 2006, third in NCAA history) and stands atop the school's career GAA list (7.18, third in NCAA history). The team co-captain and nominee for the Lowe's Senior Class Award and the leading candidate Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Jr. Award, McMonagle made a career-high 19 saves as the Big Red topped nationally-ranked Princeton, then again in an NCAA first round win over Towson. An outstanding student-athlete with a cumulative GPA of 3.61, McMonagle had a perfect 4.0 in the spring of 2006 and a 3.92 GPA this past fall. A physics major, McMonagle also minors in art history. He was named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District Men's At-Large Second Team and has earned Academic All-Ivy honors each of the last two years. For the past two years, the team co-captain has taken a leadership role as co-coordinator of the Save The Day Program. The program, which the men's lacrosse team began in 2004, partners with local businesses and members of the Ithaca community to raise money for The Dream Factory of Central N.Y. During the course of the season, for each save a Cornell goalie makes, a donation is made to the Dream Factory, which grants the wishes of chronically and critically ill children. McMonagle has also served as the Philanthropy Chairman for the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and has directed the fraternity's Daffodil Days fundraiser, a program that has raised over $60,000 for the American Cancer Society. A member of the Red Key Society, a group whose purpose is to honor outstanding undergraduate contributors to both Cornell Athletics and the Cornell community, he has been involved in the program's two major service projects, participating in "Into the Streets" and helping to organize an athlete spring formal. He is the co-publicity chair for the 21 Run, an annual 5k run organized by the men's lacrosse team, in conjunction with Alpha Tau Omega. Last year, the 21 Run raised more than $10,000 to support and promote children's literacy in the Ithaca community through the Family Reading Partnership.


A three-time All-American and school record holder in the 800 meters on the track, Uceny has captured six individual Heptagonal titles (all at 800 meters) to go along with four relay crowns. Uceny holds the event's record at both the indoor and out Heps and was a part of the 4x400 relay team that holds both Heps marks. The Most Valuable Performer at the 2006 indoor ECAC meet, Uceny set a meet record in the 800 en route to winning the event. All told, Uceny holds eight school records (indoor 500, 800 and 1000 meters, indoor and outdoor 4x400, outdoor distance medley and sprint medley relays and outdoor 4x800), and three all-time Heps marks (4x400, 4x800 and sprint medley relays). Uceny serves as a team co-captain and helped lead Cornell to eight consecutive indoor and outdoor Heps team titles. She finished as high as fourth (2006 NCAA indoors) at the NCAA championships in the 800, and showed her versatility by posting the second-fastest time in the 1,500 meters in winning the event at the 2007 ECACs in her second collegiate race at that distance. Uceny is also a two-time Academic All-Ivy pick with a 3.30 grade point average in communication.

Baines was an instrumental part of a lightweight varsity eight men's crew that placed in the top two in the East in each of the last two seasons, including a national title in 2006. A coxswain who was cut from the women's team joined the freshman lightweights and quickly proved to be a strong leader. She coxed the first freshman boat in her rookie season, then moved up to the junior varsity boat as a sophomore, leading the squad to a 10-1 record and a runner-up finish at Eastern Sprints. Her junior year she coxed the first varsity to an Eastern Sprints and national title and a finals appearance in the Henley Royal Regatta. The 2007 season has already seen a second-place finish at the Eastern Sprints after a 6-1 regular season. A member of the Red Key Athletic Honorary Society and a two-time All-Ivy selection, Baines has a 3.37 grade point average in economics.

One of the most competitive and fiery athletes at Cornell, Naeve closed out a tremendous career by earning second-team All-Ivy honors this past year for the men's basketball team. The senior tri-captain averaged 10.5 ppg. and 7.6 rpg. (78th nationally) while shooting 54 percent from the floor in 28 starts. His league-leading 53 blocked shots as a senior rank fourth on the school's single-season list and 57th nationally, while his rebounding total was 85th in the country. Naeve ended the season third on the school's career shot block list (139), 17th in career rebounds (572) and equaled the school record for career games played at 109. The 6-10 center posted career-highs in points (293), rebounds (214), blocked shots (53), assists (34) and field goal percentage (.540) in 2006-07. Naeve had seven double-doubles during the season, including a monster 20-point, 10-rebound effort in a narrow loss at Ivy champion Penn. At one point he strung together five straight double-double efforts, a school record. The co-captain finished the 2006-07 season with a career-best 21 points in a win over Dartmouth and averaged an impressive 12.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in Ivy League contests and was named team MVP. He also twice earned the team's James Paul II Award as the squad's top reserve. Off the court, Naeve was an Academic All-Ivy pick who has a grade point average of better than 3.0 in applied economics and management.

Belisle, who learned his trade under Boiardi as a freshman defender, developed into a two-time All-American while playing for one of the most dominant defenses in the country. An honorable mention All-America pick as a junior and a first-team pick as a senior, Boiardi became the first Big Red defender to take first-team honors since Ryan McClay (2002 and 2003). He anchored the third-best defense in the nation as a senior, allowing just 6.64 goals per game. A two-time first-team All-Ivy pick, he is routinely given the task of guarding the opposing team's most dangerous offensive threat and he has proven to be up to the challenge game-in and game-out. So far this season, Belisle's defensive marks have averaged less than half their season points per game average against the Big Red. Belisle has started every game for the past three seasons and has averaged 34 ground balls per year, including 40 in 2006-07. An outstanding student majoring in Industrial and Labor Relations, he holds an overall cumulative GPA of 3.8 and has a reached a perfect 4.0 GPA in three of the past four semesters, including a 4.12 this past fall. He was named Academic All-Ivy each of the last two years and earned the team's C.F. Morse Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. The team co-captain served as the President of his fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega. Off the field, he was a founding member of the Mario St. George Boiardi '04 Literacy Corporation, a non-profit corporation on a mission to battle children's illiteracy in the Ithaca area. An active participant in the "Big Red Readers", which partners with the MSGB Literacy Corporation to send Cornell athletes to Ithaca area elementary schools to promote reading, he is the Co-Publicity Chair for the 21 Run, an annual 5k run organized by the Cornell men's lacrosse team, in conjunction with Alpha Tau Omega. Last year, the 21 Run raised more than $10,000 to support and promote children's literacy in the Ithaca community through the Family Reading Partnership. Belisle is a member of the Sphinx Head Honor Society, a group that recognizes members of the Cornell senior class who have given their time and passion to the university during their undergraduate years.