6/26/2009 8:59:49 AM
Indianapolis, Ind.-- Skidmore College men's lacrosse senior attackman Nick Coppola (Basking Ridge, N.J.) finished the year ranked first in assists in the final NCAA Division III rankings released this week.
Coppola, a three-time Liberty League All-Star, led the nation with a school-record 50 assists (3.33 per game). He was second in the Liberty League and ranked seventh nationally in scoring with 22 goals and 50 assists for 72 points (4.8 per game). Coppola had a point in every career game (57 game streak) and is Skidmore's career assist leader with 135. A standout in the classroom, he received the Tim Brown Scholar Athlete Award. He was a three-time Liberty League All-Academic selection.
Junior all-America Matt Levesque (Duxbury, Mass.) was fifth in goals per game and sixth in points per game. He finished with 52 goals and 21 assists for 73 points.
Skidmore finished second as a team in man-up offense with 0.5 goals per game. Washington & Lee was first with 0.514 goals per game. The team was 12th in assists per game (8.07) and 20th in points per game (20.0).
The Thoroughbreds finished 9-6 overall and 4-2 in Liberty League play, beating Clarkson 16-10 in the final regular-season game to earn a spot in the Liberty semifinals.