Wilbraham native honored as UMass’ fifth Scholar All-American.

May 26, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. – Senior attacker Tim Balise was named a USILA Scholar All-American. He is UMass’ fifth all-time selection and third in a row joining recent honorees Brian Jacovina in 2006 and Sean Krygier in 2007. Balise was recently named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Men’s At-Large First-Team for the second year in a row. He graduated last Saturday with a perfect 4.0 GPA in Psychology.

Balise has won an endless number of academic awards in his career. He was recently named a UMass Spring Scholar Athlete and the UMass Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was also named to the NEILA Scholar-Athlete Team in addition to being an NEILA First-Team playing selection. He was also named to the All-ECAC First Team.

Balise followed up a 33-goal effort in 2008 with 31 goals and five assists as a senior. Balise single-handedly sent UMass back to the tournament with a five goal performance, including the overtime game-winner in the regular season finale at Rutgers.

In addition to Jacovina and Krygier, Harold Drumm and Mike DelPercio were both named USILA Scholar All-Americans in 1998.

The USILA Scholar All-America Program was established in 1989 to recognize student-athletes from USILA member institutions who have distinguished themselves academically, athletically, and as citizens of their communities. The USILA Selection Committee chooses an overall team representing Divisions I, II and III, and they are recognized at the annual Lacrosse All-America Banquet.

2009 USILA Scholar All-America Team

Matt Abbott           Syracuse
Craig Andrzejewski    Pennsylvania
Tim Balise Massachusetts
Kylor Berkman         Salisbury
Jordan Burke          Brown
Dave Campbell         Middlebury
Peter Carroll         St. Lawrence
Devin Catlin          Kenyon
Greg Cerar            C.W. Post
Marc Cizenski         Le Moyne
Alex Cole             Nazareth
Michael Colleluori    Hofstra
Nick Cosco            Endicott
Tom Costanza          Geneseo
Michael DeGiovanni    Drew
Russ Follansbee       Wesleyan
Michael Gerbush       Williams
Greg Gibbons          Clarkson
Dan Groot             Maryland
Alex Heckman          Stevens
Bryan Holden          Bowdoin
Skyler Hopkins        Middlebury
Mark Kovler           Princeton
Jason LaShomb         Mercyhurst
Connor Locke          Washington & Lee
David Loftus          C.W. Post
Terence Malangone     Wesleyan
Ryan McFadyen         Duke
Clem McNally          Tufts
John Meade            Hartwick
James Minor           Denison
Eddie O’Reilly        Endicott
Matt Petre            Fairfield
Chris Peyser          Princeton
Peet Poillon          UMBC
Scott Reimer          Cabrini
Jeff Reynolds         Maryland
Mitchell Rosensweig   Towson
Brad Ross             Duke
Evan Schaller         Wingate
Dan Sciulla           C.W. Post
James Shanahan        Washington & Lee
Mike Simon            Stevenson
Tim Skeen             Washington & Lee
Alex Slauson          St. Lawrence
Ryan Smith UMBC
Harry St. John        Washington & Lee
Mike Stone            Middlebury
Kirk Waldie           Wesley
Brian Welch           Le Moyne
Brady Williams        Brown
David Wood            St. John Fisher
Jordan Yarboro        Tufts