On Thursday afternoon the USILA announced its men's lacrosse postseason awards and a senior trio from Randolph-Macon has received accolades. Jack Averna (Warrenton, Va. / Fauquier), Scott Ruelle (Clifton, Va. / Centreville), and Brandon Smith (Richmond, Va. / Douglas Freeman) make up the aforementioned grouping as all three earned All-American Honorable Mention recognition.
All three were previously named to the All-ODAC Team earlier this month with Averna and Smith being named to the First Team, while Ruelle was a Second Team selection.
Averna's season was one for the record books as his stats will be listed for years to come. He scored 64 goals and 87 points this past year to set new single-season program bests for the Lemon and Black. He finished No. 21 in the nation with 3.56 goals per game and was rather successful with his shot selection with a .464 success rate, No. 36 nationally. Averna scored a game-high six goals four times on the year, one of which was a 10-point performance in a home win against Shenandoah with four assists.
Brandon Smith was also a key component for the Yellow Jackets offense and stacked up numbers on the defensive side as well. All around the field he picked up 49 ground balls which ranked in the top 10 in the ODAC among non-faceoff players. He proved to be a dual-threat as he scored 22 goals and 20 assists for 42 points. Smith scored 10 man-up goals on the season to finish 17th in the nation and help give the Yellow Jackets a top-five man-up offense nationally as well.
Ruelle was an anchor on defense after starting all 18 games this season for the Yellow Jackets. Once again he was tasked with marking some of the best offensive players not only in the league, but nationally as well as Randolph-Macon squared off against five teams to qualify for the NCAA tournament this season. While doing so he caused 12 turnovers on the season.
Together the trio helped the Yellow Jackets finish 11-7 overall and 7-3 within the ODAC.
Original source can be found here.
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