The Tewaaraton Foundation announced Thursday the five men's finalists for the annual Tewaaraton Award. Pat Spencer (Loyola), Grant Ament (Penn State), Michael Sowers (Princeton), TD Ierlan (Yale) and Jared Bernhardt (Maryland) were named as the five finalists from a list of 25 candidates.
The group will travel to Washington D.C. and the National Museum of the American Indian on May 30. Here is more on the five Tewaaraton Award finalists.
Pat Spencer, Loyola
Spencer, now a three-time Tewaaraton finalist, has been one of best players in the history of men’s college lacrosse. This season, he’s crept up the record books both at Loyola and on the national scene. He passed Gary Hanley’s school record of 311 points on March 16 in a win over Navy. In total, Spencer has 94 points on 40 goals and 54 assists, sitting fourth in Division I with 6.27 points per game.
Grant Ament, Penn State
Ament, who missed last season with a foot injury, returned in strong fashion for No. 1 Penn State. He opened his season with 10 points in a victory over Villanova, and followed it with seven points against Robert Morris. Fast forward a couple months later, and Ament leads the nation in points per game with 7.21. He scored 23 goals and tallied 78 assists en route to Penn State’s historic season. His 78 assists is a new NCAA record, beating the previous mark of 77 set by Lyle Thompson in 2014 and Steve Marohl in 1992.
TD Ierlan, Yale
Ierlan, the transfer from Albany, entered the season already as one of the top faceoff men in the history of NCAA men’s lacrosse. After winning 79.1 percent of faceoffs last season, he followed it with a 77.2 mark for Yale so far this season, the top number in Division I. He went 25-for-31 primarily against Penn State’s Gerard Arceri in a 14-13 on Feb. 23. He went 45-for-57 in two victories over Cornell. In addition, he broke the NCAA single-game record, going 26-for-26 in a victory over Harvard. He was the Warrior/US Lacrosse Player of the Week twice in a row at the end of April.