Sean Sconone, the second-year goalie from UMass, was named the SPDR Goalie of the Year by Major League Lacrosse on Friday.
Sconone led the league in save percentage (.571) and saves (76) for a Connecticut Hammerheads team that earned a playoff spot after beginning the shortened 2020 season at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium 0-2. The three-game winning streak to close the regular season — very much fueled by Sconone, who saved 15.2 shots per game — saw the Hammerheads earn the No. 2 seed.
Other MLL Award Winners
Coach of the Year: Sean Quirk
Rookie of the Year: Daniel Bucaro
We'll never know how much of a playoff run the Hammerheads could have made, as COVID-19 concerns just before the semifinals were set to be played prompted the Hammerheads and Chesapeake Bayhawks — semifinal opponents — to opt out of the rest of the season. That set up a final between Boston and Denver.
As a senior at UMass in 2019, Sconone won the Ensign C. Markland Kelly Jr. Award as the nation's most outstanding goalie. He was a USILA first-team All-American and the CAA Defensive Player of the Year.