Bower, Linkletter named Co-NE10 Rookies of the Year, lead All-Conference honors
MANSFIELD, Massachusetts – Carter Linkletter and Ries Bower of the American International College men's lacrosse team shared Northeast-10 Conference Rookie of the Year honors and became the first pair to win All-Conference selections for the program in the sane season since 1995, headlining a trio of award winners for the team, the NE10 office announced on Monday, April 29.
Click here for the full NE10 release.
Linkletter was named the program's first-ever First-Team All-Conference honoree as a long-stick midfielder, while Bower garnered Third-Team All-Conference accolades on defense; the pair additionally were named to the All-Rookie Team, alongside Shaden Shields in goal.
Linkletter had an incredible rookie campaign for AIC, dominating on both sides of the ball. Not only did he grab 68 ground balls and force 34 turnovers, more than the previous single-season record for the program, he also scored 19 times and added eight assists for 27 points in 15 games. Among his goals were three scored while man-down.
Bower quite literally rewrote the record book, shattering the AIC, NE10, and NCAA Division II caused turnover mark by forcing 58 takeaways. His 78 ground balls leads the NE10 among all players who did not win a faceoff and is eighth in the conference even including faceoff takers. He also notched 14 points in 15 games, with eight goals and six assists.
Shields was a literal wall between the pipes for the Yellow Jackets, finishing second in the NE10 with a 54.9 save percentage and stopping 151 shots in 13 games played. In addition to his prowess at goal prevention, he contributed to the offense, scoring the first goalkeeper goal in program history on March 2 at Wheeling.
The two previous seasons in which AIC had multiple All-Conference selections both featured a pair of Second-Team honorees; Pat Brennan and Bob Haughey earned accolades in 1994, while Brennan and Phil Senericia did so in 1995.
AIC has now also had five NE10 Rookie of the Year honorees since the College and conference began sponsoring the sport, tied with Pace University for the most in conference history; AIC's other winners were Ben Reese in 1995, Bryce Serriello in 2012, and Justin Bard in 2014.