Senior faceoff Trevor Baptiste (Denville, N.J.) has been named a finalist for the 2018 Senior Class Award, as announced on April 5. Fans are encouraged to vote for Baptiste through May 14.
The Senior Class Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as NCAA Division I seniors and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Baptiste is one of 10 student-athletes who were chosen as finalists for excelling both on the field and off.
Baptiste has had an excellent season and earned a spot on Team USA for the 2018 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Lacrosse Championships, won 2018 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse (USILA) Player of the Year Watchlist, 2018 BIG EAST Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and was a Tewaaraton Award Finalist (2017). He has also been a Tewaaraton Award Nominee in 2015, 2016 and 2017. He was on the USILA First Team All-America in 2015, 2016 and 2017. He was on the NCAA All-Tournament Team in 2015, and he won the BIG EAST Conference Midfielder of the Year in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
In the 2017 season, Baptiste played in all 17 games as Denver’s primary faceoff specialist. He had a career-high of 12 goals to go along with two assists, won double-digit faceoffs in all 17 games to stretch his career streak to 52 games and won 15+ faceoffs in 12 of 17 games and 20+ faceoffs in six of 17 games. Baptiste scored his first career hat trick to go along with an assist and 23-of-28 from the dot in Denver’s 16-11 win over Villanova. He scored three goals in the NCAA Tournament, two against Air Force and one against Notre Dame. Baptiste had double-digit ground balls in eight games, including a season-high 18 in the NCAA First Round against Air Force. Baptiste is ranked first in 2017 in Faceoff winning percentage (.744 – fourth best in NCAA history), second in faceoffs won (297 – seventh most in NCAA history) and second in ground balls per game (10.47 – tenth most in NCAA history).
The finalists were chosen by national media from the list of 20 candidates that were announced last month. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to submit votes online at the Senior Class Award website through May 14. Fan votes will be combined with those of the media and Division I head coaches to determine the winners. The Senior Class Award recipient will be announced during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championships in Boston, May 26-28.
