DeFazio named MACC DPOY, Cantabene COY

Dom DeFazio elevated his play as a junior to become named the MACC Defensive Player of the Year.

After another undefeated season in MAC Commonwealth play, the Stevenson Mustangs men’s lacrosse team were all over the All-League honors when they were announced on Tuesday, May 2.

Head coach Paul Cantabene was named as the league’s Coach of the Year for the second time and first time since 2013. Junior close defender Dominic DeFazio was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year and was one of eight players to earn All-League honors.

Cantabene led the Mustangs to a fifth straight unbeaten MACC season since joining the league. Since they joined in 2013, Stevenson is 40-0 against conference opponents. They will look to win their fifth straight league title when they host the MACC Championships this week. The last time a team won five straight MAC titles was Widener from 1996 to 2000.

DeFazio elevated his play after being a Second Team All-MACC selection last year. He leads Stevenson with 38 caused turnovers and is second on the team with 57 ground balls. His 2.38 caused turnovers per game ranks first in the MACC and he is 11th in the conference in ground balls per game.

Joining DeFazio on the first team were senior Kyle D’Onofrio, sophomore JT Thelen and freshman Justin Burnette. Seniors Jacob Brown and Wade Korvin, junior Kyle Karsian and sophomore Dylan Harris were second team selections.

D’Onofrio earned his second straight First Team selection after finishing with 39 goals and 21 assists for 60 points this season. He has at least one goal in every game this season and had multiple goals 10 times. He also scooped up 47 ground balls this year.

Thelen developed into Stevenson’s top offensive threat and finished with 46 goals and 23 assists for 69 points this year. She ranked second in the league in points per game, third in goals per game and fifth in assists per games. The attackman also scored in ever game this season and scored multiple goals 13 times.

Burnette was the long freshman to earn First Team honors after a strong year as Stevenson’s faceoff specialists. He went 171-for-264, winning 64.8-percent of his takes at the X. His winning percentage is second in the league and 22nd nationally. He led the Mustangs with 61 ground balls this year.

Brown was a short stick defensive specialists and finished with one goal and seven assists but colleged 33 ground balls on the year. Korvin was Stevenson’s third-leading scoter with 34 goals and 15 assists for 49 points to go with 28 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers. Karsian scored 26 goals and 13 assists for 39 points and had three hat tricks this year. Harris started all but one game for the Mustangs on close defense and collected 38 ground balls and caused 19 turnovers. He also had an assists this season.

Stevenson will open the MACC Championships on Wednesday night at 7 pm when they host Widener.

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Corey Johns

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You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.

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