ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell senior men's lacrosse players Roy Lang and Rob Pannell have been named to the 2012 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch list. The duo is among 72 total players in all divisions and highlight the early contenders for the 2012 Tewaaraton Award.
Lang earned the first All-America accolade of his career with a first-team selection after earning a unanimous first-team All-Ivy nod. He started all 17 games as a member of the Big Red's first offensive midfield and was the fourth leading scoring on the team with 27 goals and 36 points overall. A solid two-way player and a crucial part of the Big Red's face-off unit, Lang picked up 38 ground balls and caused eight turnovers. He also led the team with four game-winning goals, including a dramatic overtime tally against Penn on March 26, and registered Cornell's only man-down goal of the season against Yale in the Ivy League semifinal game. For his efforts against the Bulldogs and Harvard in the championship game, Lang was named to the 2011 Ivy League All-Tournament team.
Pannell was named the USILA's Lt. Raymond Enners Award winner as the Division I national player of the year and repeated as the Jack Turnbull Award winner as the Division I national attackman of the year in 2011. A 2011 Tewaaraton Trophy finalist and a nominee for a 2011 ESPY in the category of Best Male Collegiate Athlete, Pannell earned his second consecutive first-team All-America honor and his second straight Ivy League Player of the Year award. He was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the Ivy League tournament and was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on four occasions. Pannell led the nation in points per game (5.24), while ranking second overall in assists per game (2.76), and ninth overall in goals per game (2.47). He enters his senior year with the most career assists (140) and career points (236) of any active player in Division I men's lacrosse.
The Selection Committees are made up of top collegiate coaches and are appointed each year by the Tewaaraton Award. The Selection Committees will make additions to these lists as the season progresses and athletes earn a spot along side these elite players. In late April, both lists will be narrowed to 25 and these men and women will earn the distinction of Tewaaarton Nominees. In mid-May, the 5 Finalists in each category will be announced. These finalists will be invited to the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony, which will take place on May 31st, at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC.
The Tewaaraton Award was formally established in August of 2000 with the inaugural presentation taking place at The University Club of Washington DC in June of 2001. The Tewaaraton Trophy symbolizes lacrosse's centuries-old roots in Native American heritage. Tradition dictates that each year the Tewaaraton Award celebrates one of the six tribal nations of the Iroquois Confederacy: the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and the Tuscarora. To honor the heritage of the sport, the Award presents two annual scholarships to students of American Indian decent. The Tewaaraton Award is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award honoring the nation's top male and female collegiate lacrosse players and is endorsed by the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders and US Lacrosse.
