TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The 2024 All-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) men's lacrosse teams and yearly award winners were released Thursday, which was determined through voting by the league's nine head coaches. 

The now five-time PAC champion Grove City College Wolverines claimed three of the top awards, starting with the Offensive Player of the Year in junior midfielder Zachary Hougan (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) and the Specialist of the Year in junior short-stick defensive midfielder Trey Zabroski (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood). In addition, Wolverine head coach Alec Jernstedt won Coach of the Year for the fifth consecutive year. 

Also garnering PAC awards was Allegheny senior defender Cassady Bouthet (Vernon, Conn./Rockville) earning Defensive Player of the Year and the PAC Newcomer of the Year is Franciscan freshman attack Joseph James (Herndon, Va./The Heights School).

Hougan was a key cog for the prolific Grove City offense, which ranks third in the nation with 18.26 goals per game. The junior midfielder totaled 31 goals, including a team-high seven man-up scores, and 26 assists for 57 points. Hougan posted four points or more in seven games, highlighted by a six-point (4g/2a) showing in the PAC semifinal victory over Westminster. 

This was the initial season the PAC Specialist of the Year award was given out and Zabroski did a little of everything in a dominant year as a short-stick defensive midfielder for the Wolverines. He finished second on Grove City with 71 ground balls, was their second best faceoff man with 40 wins in 66 attempts (.733 percent) and added 27 points on 14 goals and 13 assists. His work on the defensive side also helped the Wolverines rank 15th in the country in scoring defense with only 8.21 goals allowed per game.

Bouthet secured the top Defensive player honor after he led Allegheny and the PAC with 53 caused turnovers overall and 3.12 per game. He also ranked seventh in the league with 96 ground balls. With Bouthet leading the Gators, they ranked first as a team in the conference with 12.71 CTs a game, ranked second in ground balls with 43.18 per contest and held seven teams to single-digit goals in a game.

James had a historic first season for Franciscan. He led the PAC with 125 points and his 7.35 points per game is tops in the nation. James also ranked second in Division III with 76 goals and 4.47 goals per game and 13th in the country with 2.88 assists per game (49 total in 17 games). The first-year attackman had five games with 12 or more points, highlighted by a pair of 15-point efforts in wins over Hiram (9g/6a) and Anderson (8g/7a). 

Jernstedt led Grove City to the top seed in the conference's tournament after posting an unblemished 8-0 PAC record during the regular season. The Wolverines claimed their fifth consecutive PAC Tournament crown after posting a 17-6 semifinal win over Westminster and a 27-9 victory over Allegheny in the championship game, which sent Grove City to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history.

As the winner of this year's PAC Championship Tournament, Grove City earned the conference's automatic-qualifying bid to the Division III Championship. Grove City will take on Bowdoin College in the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament at 3 p.m. Saturday in Troy, N.Y., at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

Also announced Wednesday were the members of this year's PAC Sportsmanship Team. The PAC's Sportsmanship Teams were established to recognize student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through demonstrated acts of sportsmanship and ethical behavior and are an ongoing effort to both recognize and encourage positive sportsmanship among all conference teams.

PAC Award Winners
Offensive Player of the Year: Grove City junior midfielder Zachary Hougan (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro)
Defensive Player of the Year: Allegheny senior defender Cassady Bouthet (Vernon, Conn./Rockville)
Specialist of the Year: Grove City junior short-stick defensive midfielder Trey Zabroski (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood)
Newcomer of the Year: Franciscan freshman attack Joseph James (Herndon, Va./The Heights School)
Coach of the Year: Grove City head coach Alec Jernstedt
 

All-PAC First Team
Position	Name	School	Yr.	Hometown/High School
A	JP Rakis	Allegheny	So.	Kensington, Md./Walter Johnson
A	Joseph James	Franciscan	Fr.	Herndon, Va./The Heights School
A	Matt Blythe	Grove City	Jr.	Mendon, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima
M	Aidan D'Amato	Allegheny	Sr.	Tolland, Conn./Tolland
M	Zachary Hougan	Grove City	Jr.	Springboro, Ohio/Springboro
M	Gavin Jones	Westminster	Jr.	Henrico, Va./Douglas S. Freeman
D	Cassady Bouthet	Allegheny	Sr.	Vernon, Conn./Rockville
D	Sam Stevenson	Grove City	So.	Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove
D	Benjamin Wohlin	Saint Vincent	Sr.	Delmont, Pa./Franklin Regional
LSM	Ryan Evans	Grove City	So.	Crofton, Md./DeMatha
Faceoff	Colton Lehberg	Grove City	So.	Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Santa Fe Christian
SSDM	Trey Zabroski	Grove City	Jr.	Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood
GK	Danny Stone	Grove City	Sr.	Chantilly, Va./Flint Hill

 

All-PAC Second Team
Position	Name	School	Yr.	Hometown | High School
A	Kobi Bui	Grove City	Jr.	Harleysville, Pa./Souderton
A	Jordan Billet	Saint Vincent	Grad.	York, Pa./West York
A	Payton Waight	Westminster	Sr.	Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca
M	Jacob Lubawy	Chatham	So.	Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin
M	Gavin Cook	Franciscan	Sr.	Syracuse, N.Y./Anthony Henninger
M	Luke Jayne	Grove City	Sr.	Vero Beach, Fla./Saint Edward's
M	Caleb Hawkins	Saint Vincent	Grad.	Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra
D	Thomas Curtin	Chatham	Jr.	Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest
D	Zach Furry	Grove City	Jr.	Springboro, Ohio/Springboro
D	Aaron Alderette	Westminster	Sr.	Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park
LSM	RJ Kenna	Saint Vincent	Sr.	Manassas, Va./Gonzaga College
Faceoff	Colin O'Malley	Westminster	Sr.	Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny
SSDM	Jason Muench	Grove City	Jr.	Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park
G	Garin Stearns	Allegheny	So.	Hudson, Ohio/Revere

 

Honorable Mention All-PAC
Position	Name	School	Yr.	Hometown/High School
A	Tanner Marsh	Chatham	Fr.	Windsor, Colo./Berkshire School
A	Brady Rigdon	Chatham	Fr.	Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson
A	James Petrolle	Grove City	Grad.	Damascus, Md./Damascus
A	Carter Haid	Saint Vincent	Sr.	Fredericksburg, Va./James Monroe
A	Carter Watts	W&J	Sr.	Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown
A	Brady Page	Westminster	So.	Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley
M	Nick Gralewski	Allegheny	Sr.	Meadville, Pa./Meadville
M	Gideon Sullivan	Allegheny	So.	Getzville, N.Y./Cathedral (Ind.)
M	Justin Wodarek	Saint Vincent	Jr.	Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park
M	Chase Lawler	Thiel	Jr.	Etters, Pa./Red Land
M	Bennett Medyn	Thiel	Sr.	Macedon, N.Y./Palmyra Macedon
M	Paul Shook	W&J	Jr.	Camp Hill, Pa./Trinity
M	Jimmy Sentz	Westminster	Sr.	Catonsville, Md./Loyola Blakefield
D	Christian Funari	Bethany	Grad.	Wheeling, W.Va./Wheeling Park
D	Logan Blankenship	Chatham	Sr.	Dover, Del./Dover
D	Benjamin Griffin	Grove City	Jr.	Asheboro, N.C./Greensboro Day
D	AJ Bricker	Saint Vincent	Sr.	York, Pa./West York
D	David Evangelista	Westminster	Jr.	Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley
LSM	Konrad Homiak	Allegheny	Jr.	Hampstead, N.C./Topsail
LSM	Jack Neal	Chatham	Fr.	Minneapolis, Minn./South
FO	Anthony DeMarco	Allegheny	Jr.	Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls
FO	Noah Delo	Chatham	Fr.	Schwenskville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley
FO	Brady Beard	Saint Vincent	Jr.	Shepherdstown, W.Va./Spring Mills
SSDM	Griffin Cates	Allegheny	So.	Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey
SSDM	Graham Nash	Allegheny	Sr.	Innisfil, Ont./Nantyr Shores
SSDM	Devin Traister	Chatham	Fr.	Maineville, Ohio/Little Miami
SSDM	Bernard Farnan	Saint Vincent	Sr.	Pittsburgh, Pa./Quaker Valley
SSDM	Nathan Petrarco	W&J	Sr.	North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin
SSDM	Jahiem Hawkins	Westminster	So.	Huntington Station, N.Y./Huntington
G	Richard Vale II	Franciscan	Sr.	Lovettsville, Va./Woodgrove
G	Garrett Ritts	Saint Vincent	So.	Shaker Heights, Ohio/Shaker Heights