ASUN Lacrosse Annual Awards Announced, 13 Falcons Earn League Honors
4/29/2026 11:38:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Air Force, Jacksonville and Utah all earned individual superlative awards to headline the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) Men's Lacrosse postseason honors announced Wednesday.
Air Forces' Bill Wilson was named Coach of the Year after turning a 2-6 non-conference start into a four-game winning streak highlighted by an upset overtime win against #18 Utah in the season finale. The win propelled the Falcons to a share of the ASUN regular season title for the third straight season.
Eight Falcons earned All-Conference nods with four making the First Team, one making the Second Team, and three on the All-Freshman team.
Senior LSM Cole Cunningham earned his second First Team honor while classmate and co-team captain Caelan Driggs was selected to the First Team as well, one-upping his Second Team selection from last season. Cunningham leads the squad in caused turnovers (22) and ground balls (65) while Driggs lead the team in goals (38) and points (49). Senior midfielder Cole Rassas and junior defenseman Charlie Pyfer round out the First Team selections with their first post season awards. Rassas racked up 14 goals and 14 assists while Pyfer caused 14 turnovers and scooped up 43 ground balls.
Christian Schweiger, Jack Gounaris, and Ben Heidt earned spots on the 13-man All-Freshman team. Schweiger, the second leading scorer on the team, concluded the regular season with 26 goals and 15 assists. Heidt, the fifth-leading scorer, finished with 16 goals and a pair of helps. Gounaris' presence on the defense yielded the freshman 10 caused turnovers and 16 ground balls.
Senior midfielder Luke Vrsansky was the only Falcon selected to the Second Team. Vrsansky, a 2023 All-Freshman selection, concluded the regular season with 15 goals and seven assists.
Utah's Ryan Stines was named Offensive Player of the Year. Stines started all 13 games for the Utes and totaled 37 goals, and 25 assists good for 62 points to go along with two caused turnovers and 28 ground balls. He owns the program record with 241 career points and ranks second in goals (146) and assists (95). The attacker became the first Ute in program history to be drafted when he was drafted to the Utah Archers in the PLL College Draft.
Utah's Nikko DiPonio was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive year after causing 36 turnovers and 79 ground balls. He ranks second nationally and leads the conference with 2.76 caused turnovers per game and ranks 20th nationally with 6.08 ground balls per game. DiPonio anchored a defensive unit that allowed 9.69 goals per game, the 12th best mark in the nation, caused 12.92 turnovers (the most in Division I) and picked up 39.38 ground balls per game, also the best in the NCAA. The Bloomfield Hills, Mich., native was picked 24th overall by the New York Atlas in the PLL College Draft.
Jacksonville's Drew Rippeon was named Specialist of the Year. He won .608 percent of his faceoffs, ranking 6th best in the nation and first in the ASUN. His 7.92 ground balls per game ranks sisxth nationally and second in the leauge. Against ranked opponents, Rippeon won 53% of draws with 9.3 groundballs per game, including going 12-23 against No. 3 North Carolina. He met his season-high 10 ground balls twice and recorded eight games with at least eight ground balls.
Dolphins' Midfielder, Zane Czeschin was named Freshman of the Year. He ranks fourth amongst all freshman in the country in goals per game (2.46) and sixth in the ASUN. The Birmingham, Ala., native has scored at least one goal in each of Jacksonville's contests this season. He tallied 22 ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Jacksonville's John Galloway was also named Coach of the Year after leading his team to a share of the regular season title and the top seed in the ASUN Men's Lacrosse Championship. Under Galloway's guidance, the Dolphins had the second-highest scoring team in the league, posting 14.31 goals per game and went 4-1 in ASUN play with the best margin of victory in the league.
Offensive Player of the Year: Ryan Stines, Utah
Defensive Player of the Year: Nikko DiPonio, Utah
Specialist of the Year: Drew Rippeon, Jacksonville
Freshman of the Year: Zane Czeschin, Jacksonville
Coach of the Year: Bill Wilson, Air Force and John Galloway, Jacksonville
First Team All-ASUN
A - Ryan Stines, Utah
A - Caelan Driggs, Air Force
A - Jack Taylor, Jacksonville
MF - Cade Faulkner, Utah
MF - Cole Rassas, Air Force
MF - Zane Czeschin, Jacksonville
LS - Cole Cunningham, Air Force
SS - Breyden Harrison, Jacksonville
D - Nikko DiPonio, Utah
D - Charlie Pyfer, Air Force
D - Aaron Toguri, Jacksonville
FO - Drew Rippeon, Jacksonville
GK - Ryan Della Rocco, Jacksonville
Second Team All-ASUN
A - John Alie, Bellarmine
A - Luke McNamara, Utah
A - Ezra Moore, Bellarmine
A - Nicky Brown, Jacksonville
MF - Luke Vrsansky, Air Force
MF - Michael Blaymires, Bellarmine
MF - Ryan McDaniel, Queens
LS - Lucas Fraser, Jacksonville
SS - Kyle Harrison, Utah
D - Michael White, Queens
D - Luca Pivetta, Utah
D - Thomas Venzie, Mercer
FO - Tyler Kloeckl, Utah
GK - Colin Lenskold, Utah
Note - a tie in voting resulted in 14-person All-ASUN Second Team
All-Freshman Team
Zane Czeschin, Jacksonville
Jack Gounaris, Air Force
Ben Heidt, Air Force
Christian Schweiger, Air Force
Jack Fischel, Bellarmine
Dillon O'Rourke, Bellarmine
Josh Hedderich, Jacksonville
Grant Maloney, Jacksonville
Kai Smith, Jacksonville
Nick Church, Mercer
Noah McGovern, Queens
Jacob Neuman, Mercer
Luke Sheppard, Utah
Six Falcons earned all-academic honors in Cole Cunningham, Hunter Panzik, Cole Rassas, Sam Palmisano, Michael Frieri, and Cal Schieffer. The Academic All-ASUN recognizes student-athletes who excel both in competition and in the classroom. All student-athletes named to the list boast a 3.50 cumulative grade point average or better and participated in at least half of their team's games. Cunningham's selection is the second of his career.
Utah's Will Overly was named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Overly holds a 3.965 GPA as the Utes' team captain and Health and Kinseology major. This season, the midfielder recorded 11 goals, and nine assists for 20 points. He was named the recipient of the Br. Burtis Evans Scholar-Athlete Award and the Dr. Chris Hill Leadership Award from the University of Utah Athletic Department.
Academic All-ASUN Team
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Will Overly, Utah
Air Force
Cole Cunningham
Michael Frieri
Cole Rassas
Hunter Panzik
Cal Schieffer
Sam Palmisano
Bellarmine
Joe Alie
John Alie
Jackson Campisano
Nick Ferge
Matt Kirton
Isaac Miller
Jacksonville
George Bowdouris
Charlie DiGennaro
Quinn Fuller
Maddox Johnson
William Krupsky
Drew Rippeon
Mercer
Christopher Cappelmann
Quinn Kelley
Dylan McKelvy
Davis Peek
Jack Sullivan
Thomas Venzie
Queens
Grant Isika
Ryan McDaniel
Zach Miller
Carter Petersen
Ethan Scaffadi
Ty Schreck
Utah
Bryce Madden
Jake Likes
Will Overly
Karson Sparks
Ben Trask
Zachary White
