Dec. 5, 2007
BALTIMORE, MD - Inside Lacrosse has released the Face-Off Yearbook Top 20 Pre-Season Rankings for the 2008 Division III men's lacrosse season, and Endicott College has been named the nation's 15th ranked team according to the publication.
Endicott, who finished the season with a 14-3 overall record and winners of its fourth-straight The Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship, are ranked better than perennial national powers Nazareth College, RIT, Cabrini, Stevens and Hampden-Sydney. Endicott was bumped from the NCAA Tournament last year by Tufts University, who is ranked seventh in the Face-Off Poll.
TCCC newcomer Western New England College is the only other conference team listed in the Pre-season rankings, as the Golden Bears are ranked ninth by Inside Lacrosse. WNEC finished 2007 with an impressive 17-1 overall record.
Also appearing in the 2008 Face-Off Preview are Inside Lacrosse's Preseason All-American selections. Three Endicott standouts have garnered national recognition by being named to the Preseason All-American list. Three juniors in Brandon Dube (Danvers, MA/Danvers), Eddie O'Reilly (Beverly, MA/Beverly) and John Ortolani (Billerica, MA/Billerica) were all selected as Honorable Mention honorees.
Dube notched 71 total points in 2007, as he scored 39 goals and handed out 32 assists. Eddie O'Reilly posted 31 goals and 23 assists for 54 points. John Ortolani, one the nation's most feared face-off men, scooped-up a team-high 123 groundballs and won 237-of-335 at the face-off X (70.7%).
