Ben Reeves is getting used to having a trophy in his grasp. Reeves, Yale’s star for a better part of the last three seasons, has claimed lacrosse’s two of lacrosse’s most coveted awards — one for a team achievement and the other a tribute to his own career.

Just three days removed from celebrating the Bulldogs first national championship, a victory over Duke at Gillette Stadium, Reeves was in the limelight once again — and his teammates weren’t far away. Reeves joined Trevor Baptiste, Connor Kelly, Justin Guterding and Pat Spencer for the Tewaaraton Award ceremony Thursday night at the National Museum of the American Indian. Every time his name was announced, a chorus of Yale fans erupted just left of the stage. It was Reeves’ moment, as after three tries, the Tewaaraton was his to keep.

“The third time is a charm,” teammate Joey Sessa joked. “It only took him three times. If he didn't win that, I would have been pretty upset.”

And it’s hard to argue. Reeves led the nation with 115 points on 62 goals and 53 assists, helping fuel Yale to an Ivy League regular season title. He finished the NCAA tournament with 11 goals and 14 assists, including a goal and three assists to help the Bulldogs capture their first NCAA title and first national title since 1883.

He’ll go down as the best that Yale has ever had — he owns school records in points (316) and goals (174). The national championship was the achievement of which Reeves, the 2018 team captain, will be most proud, but he’ll take a Tewaaraton to go with it.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Reeves said of the past few days. “I’m still trying to recover from the national title. This is just a little icing on the cake.”

Not only is it the topper for Reeves, but a Yale program experiencing unprecedented success under coach Andy Shay. The Bulldogs’ star player played a large role in exercising Yale’s NCAA tournament first-round demons and giving Shay’s program the breakout it had been looking for since he started in 2003.

“I’m just super proud of him,” Shay said of Reeves, whom he recruited to Yale from Macedon, N.Y. “Ben is humble, a team guy first. He’d say it’s a team award and I think it is, but his teammates really look up to him and appreciate what he’s done for them. We’re all psyched. We’re probably more psyched than he is.”

Reeves, understated in nature, still had the sights of Yale’s triumph in his head on Thursday night.

“It’s hard to think of something else outside of a national championship,” he said.

He showcased his quick wit at the beginning of his acceptance speech, whipping out his phone for a list of people to thank.

“Off the phone?” asked emcee, Joe Beninati.

“Yeah, I was going to do it on paper, but then I remembered I had, a phone,” Reeves answered to laughter in the crowd.

He thanked his parents, his high school coaches (Joe Hill and Scott Welch), Shay and the Yale coaching staff, among others. He made sure not to forget to acknowledge one name specifically — outgoing Yale Director of Athletics Thomas Beckett.

Beckett, who retired from his position after 24 years at the helm, had built a relationship with Reeves over the course of his career. Reeves remembered Beckett inviting him into his office during his sophomore season.

“The things he’s done for me are incredible,” Reeves said. “He pulled me into his office two years ago just to talk to me. I was at the time just a lowly sophomore, so thank you so much, Mr. Beckett.”

Shay and the coaching staff wanted to give Reeves some extra encouragement — to help him see the potential they did in him. Beckett was more than willing to sit down with him.

He invited Reeves into his office — not knowing that just two years late he'd change the landscape of Yale lacrosse forever.

“[The coaching staff was] aware of his talent, but they wanted him to realize how good he was and how much better he could become if he became assertive on the field,” Beckett said. “They asked me to talk about that, not to change him, but encourage him. They knew it was there, and they just wanted to see if there were others that could realize how good he was. As he will always do, he thanked me endless times for taking the time to meet with him and to encourage the genius of his ability to shine through.”

Beckett takes no credit in Reeves rapid rise in the college lacrosse world. He simply wanted to lift him up as much as he could.

“It was about getting that young man believing in himself, which is what educators try to do,” he said. “Take students to places they can’t get on their own.”

And while Reeves was escorted from photo-op to congratulations and back, his teammates followed. They joked with him and took photos to remember the moment.

Sessa reflected on his favorite stories of Reeves — a teammate that once talked a big game going into a three-point contest at the gym, only to miss all 30 of his shots (according to Sessa, of course).

He lived for his teammates, and in the end, they all got to celebrate.

“He exemplifies what it means to be a Yale lacrosse player and a man in general,” Sessa said. “He’s a team guy before he’s a me guy. He’s always been that way since I stepped foot on campus. I was kind of scared playing with these big boys, and he showed me the way. He’s going to do great in everything he does with life.”

Although he just finished the national title run, the future starts now for Reeves. He was a molecular, cellular, developmental biology major that has spent time working in multiple labs studying cancer. He also followed cardiac surgeons in Africa helping disadvantaged children.

As for lacrosse, he was drafted by the Dallas Rattlers with the fourth overall pick in April’s MLL Collegiate Draft. The future is certainly bright for the Tewaaraton Award winner.

The plan for now?

“I’ll play in the league for a couple years, and then I’ll go to medical school,” he said. With the trail that he has blazed in the lacrosse world and beyond, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine him rising to the top in both fields.