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LANCASTER, PA -- Franklin & Marshall College attackman Steve Welsh (Sr., Lewes, DE/Cape Henelopen) was named the Player of the Year as the Diplomats placed five players on the 2005 All-Centennial Conference men's lacrosse team in balloting by the nine Conference head coaches. A two-time All-CC selection following first team honors in 2004, Welsh becomes the first Franklin & Marshall College player named Player of the Year in men’s lacrosse and the first attackman to earn the award since Haverford’s Brian Bean earned the honor in 1998. The team and Centennial Conference’s leading scorer with 20 goals and 45 assists for 65 points, Welsh concludes his career with 84 goals and 112 assists 196 points as he ranks second in assists and fifth in points in school history. In Centennial Conference games, he tallied 11 goals and 28 assists for 39 points this year in eight games as he led the Diplomats to a 5-3 record, fourth place in the conference standings and a playoff berth. Joining Welsh on the first team are face-off specialist Matt Capone (Sr., Scarsdale, NY/Scarsdale) and midfielder Colin Hanley (Sr., Davidsonville, MD/DeMatha). A three-time All-CC first team selection following honors in 2003 and 2004, Capone led the Centennial Conference for a third straight year by winning 207-of-286 (72.37%) face-offs to raise his career total to 706-for-918 (76.90%). In Centennial Conference games, he won 120-of-169 face-offs (71.0%) with one goal. The NCAA all-division record holder in face-off winning percentage after recording an 86.4 percentage in 2003, he concludes his career with three goals and one assist for four points as he scored two goals this season and led the team in ground balls with 81. A two-time All-Centennial Conference selection following a 2004 honorable mention selection, Hanley scored 15 goals and handed out eight assists for 23 points as he finished third on the team in scoring behind attackman Cyrus Adams (So., Nashville, TN/Montgomery Bell), who led the conference in goals with 41 while dishing out five assists for 46 points, and Welsh. He tied for the team lead in game-winning goals with Welsh and Adams as he netted the deciding scores against NCAA qualifiers Widener University (7-6 W OT), Denison University (9-8 W). In Centennial Conference games, he scored six goals and four assists for 10 points. For his career, Hanley finishes with 79 goals and 30 assists for 109 points. On the second team, defensive midfielder Tommy Kehoe (Fr., Coraopolis, PA/Sewickley) and long-stick defenseman Ed Schellhorn (Sr., Wilton, CT/Wilton) earned honors. One of the anchors of the Diplomats' defense, Schellhorn collected 30 ground balls and was instrumental in Franklin & Marshall ranking among the conference’s best defensive units as F&M allowed 7.69 goals per game. In addition, he scored a man-down goal this year against McDaniel College in a 12-7 win at Williamson Field on April 27 to clinch a play-off berth. Historically, he is the second Schellhorn to earn All-CC recognition in men's lacrosse for Franklin & Marshall as his brother Chris Schellhorn '02 earned first team recognition in 2002 and was a 2001 second team honoree. The only freshman named to the All-Centennial Conference team this year, Kehoe finished second on the team in ground balls with 54 and tallied five goals and one assist for six points on seven shots on goals. He scored the game-winning goal in a 13-5 rout of Haverford College on April 3 at Williamson Field as he scored all of his points in Centennial Conference games. Franklin & Marshall concluded the season 9-5, 5-3 in Centennial Conference play as the team’s record marks the fifth straight season the Diplomats have recorded nine or more wins to tie the school record of the 1970-74 Diplomats.
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