The lacrosse season may have ended on the field Monday at Gillette Stadium, but five of men’s college lacrosse’s stars, the pageantry continues for a few more days. Those five players — Trevor Baptiste (Denver), Justin Guterding (Duke), Connor Kelly (Maryland), Ben Reeves (Yale) and Pat Spencer (Loyola) — will meet at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. on Thursday night for the Tewaaraton Award ceremony.
The Tewaaraton Award will be given out to the top men’s player in the nation this season. It will cap a 2018 season which saw Reeves and Yale take home the NCAA title with a victory over Guterding and Duke.
Here are your candidates for the Tewaaraton, an award that went to Maryland’s Matt Rambo last season.
Trevor Baptiste
Senior, Faceoff, Denver
Baptiste is a Tewaaraton finalist for the second consecutive season, and rightfully so. He’s the first faceoff man to be invited to the ceremony as a finalist — an honor befitting for the career leader in faceoff win percentage.
Baptiste is the NCAA record-holder with a .714 career faceoff win percentage, also winning a record 1,158 faceoffs for Denver. He finished this season with the second-best percentage at .744 (behind only Albany’s TD Ierlan).
The highlight of the season: Winning all 22 faceoffs against Cleveland State on Feb. 25.
BROKEN. RECORD.
— BIG EAST Champs (@BIGEASTchamps) May 3, 2018
Trevor Baptiste (@DU_MLAX) breaks the all-time @NCAALAX mark for faceoff wins #BeastBaptiste passed Kevin Massa (Bryant) with the 1,118th of his career. #BIGEASTmlax pic.twitter.com/rrjZvMqeW0
Justin Guterding
Senior, Attack, Duke
Guterding finished his Duke career as the NCAA’s all-time career goals leader, passing Zach Greer in the NCAA tournament and finishing with 212. He led the nation in 2018 with 3.30 goals per game, finishing second to Reeves with 113 points.
He came onto the scene quickly in 2018, scoring 10 points against Air Force and following it up with eight points against High Point (5G, 3A) and nine points against Jacksonville (4G, 5A). He also dropped nine points in a win over Virginia on April 14.
Justin Guterding totaled 10 points to lead No. 1 Duke to as season opening victory. Not a bad way to spend his birthday.
— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) February 4, 2018
(via @DukeMLAX)pic.twitter.com/wqYMVg3SMz
Connor Kelly
Senior, Midfield/Attack, Maryland
Maryland's leader on offense throughout the final four run, Kelly helped make up for the loss of reigning Tewaaraton winner Matt Rambo. He led the team with 46 goals, also dishing out a team-high 36 assists. That total ranks third in school history for a single season.
The highlight of the season for Kelly came in the form of a seven-assist, 10-point game in a win over Notre Dame on March 3. Both of those numbers tie for second in school history for a single game.
Career-high six goals for Connor Kelly! He puts the Terps ahead, 13-11! pic.twitter.com/qwZKYTg0QB
— Maryland Lacrosse (@TerpsMLax) April 9, 2018
Ben Reeves
Senior, Attack, Yale
Reeves is the favorite to win the award, after leading Yale to its first NCAA title just three days prior to the ceremony. He’s back for the third time as a Tewaaraton Award finalist, leading the nation with 115 points and finishing second in goals per game.
He was the catalyst for the historic national championship run, dropping six points against UMass, six points against Loyola, nine in a semifinal win over Albany and four points in the championship game against Duke.
Reeves will finish his Yale career as the career goals and points leader.
What a move by Ben Reeves to make this one happen!#NCAALAX Q2 | LOY 3 | YALE 6 pic.twitter.com/Bxw5xQPQ5b
— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) May 19, 2018
Pat Spencer
Junior, Attack, Loyola
Spencer led the team with 94 points and 59 assists — both school records — helping the Greyhounds advance to another NCAA quarterfinal appearance. He sat third in the nation in assists per game, with 3.47.
Back for a second straight year, Spencer was breaking Patriot League records all season. He set the single-season mark for assists, and career records for assists and points.
Pat Spencer makes it look so easy. (via @kiywii) pic.twitter.com/Om1Rv7CIAU
— The Lacrosse Cave (@LacrosseCave) March 18, 2018