Schenectady, New York – Six student-athletes on Union University's men's hockey and men's lacrosse teams have been recognized for their efforts on the field and in the classroom by being selected by college sports communicators to the 2024 CSC Academic All-District Men's At-Large Team, which was announced last week.
Senior Ben Tapker And second grade Brandon Barr and Kyle Chauvette The freshmen on the boys hockey team are Division I At-Large certified, and the seniors Peter Kipp, Matthew Paolatto and Jack Thompson Players from the boys lacrosse team earned Division III At-Large honors.
Unlike most sport-specific categories, the At-Large program is perhaps the most competitive Academic All-District program, encompassing 10 boys sports: fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
College Sports Communicators (formerly known as Koshida) To earn Academic All-District Honor, student-athletes must meet minimum participation standards (varies by sport), maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher, and achieve athletic and academic success their sophomore year at the school. All Academic All-District Honor recipients will be considered for advancement in the CSC Academic National Poll, the results of which will be announced next month.
The men's lacrosse team had two back-to-back award winners in Paolatto and Thompson. Paolatto was named USILA Faceoff Person of the Year, a First Team All-American and also won Union's William B. Jaffe 25 Award. The economics major won 71.7% of his faceoffs, good for third in Division III this season. Thompson was a defensive starter for the third straight year for a nationally ranked Union defense, and the business economics major caught 24 ground balls and caused nine turnovers. They also welcomed for the first time environmental policy major Kip, who was named USILA All-American Honorable Mention for the second straight year after recording a team-high 46 goals, 23 assists and 69 points.
The men's hockey team also had three first-time selections. Tapker served as captain of the Garnet Chargers in his final season and recorded a career-high 19 points (9 goals, 10 assists) and was awarded the Wayne Dean Sportsmanship Award by ECAC Hockey. Chaubet appeared in 36 games in his first season as the starting goaltender, recording 15 wins, 16 losses and 3 ties with a 3.05 goals against average and .893 save percentage. Boulle made an immediate impact in his first season with the Garnets, finishing third on the team in scoring with 11 goals, 13 assists and 24 points. All three skaters are economics majors.
Combined with the 12 award recipients across the boys and girls general programs, Union student-athletes have earned 221 academic all-district honors since 2001.
