I hate the choice. I thought Shellenberger was most deserving after Pat.

ND only played 16 games. No other school in the top 20 played 19 games this year. Yet even the Tewaarton award show kept touting "most goals!" and "most points" instead of points per game or goals per game.

O'Neill had 7 goals and 15 assists against Bellarmine, Merrimack and St. Joseph. The entire Lax world needs to get off the "MOST" stat until there is a uniform schedule length.

on 2-13 shooting with 7 turnovers in the two games vs. ND, correct? I don't follow this closely at all but isn't that like giving the Heisman to a Georgia QB who crapped the bed vs. Bama in the regular season and the national title game?

Georgia QB who went 11-30 with 4 ints and lost 35-10. With a chance at redemption he put up similar numbers and his team lost.

But he did awesome against Vandy and Arkansas.

You can't win the award after being shut down on the biggest stage. Twice.

Shellenberger and O'Neill are incredible players. Shellenberger is a great kid and was coached in high school by an ND alum. He was injured for a large part of the year and his surrounding cast was superb.

This was Entenmann's award. He was robbed.

- In retrospect, one does wonder why a goalie -- in this case, Entenmann -- wasn't nominated as a finalist. Maybe the nominating committee has a predisposition to scorers? Needs to be rejiggered?

- O'Neill is a force, for sure, but his only goals against ND and Fake came on man-up plays when he was being zoned/left open, which plays to his strengths. On an equal playing field, nada.

The Way she came back from an ACL was impressive.

Entenmann should have been a finalist and could very well have won it after his tournament performance.

If he doesn't make multiple point blank saves against UVA we go home early.

This decision is worse than sending Harvard over ND to last year's tourney.

Basically the nation’s most prolific/stat-producing offensive player on a really good team.

I see it as:

Attack: QB/RB (almost always going to win it)
Middie: WR (not unprecedented - see DeVonta Smith - but need some gaudy numbers)
Goalie: Defensive player (likely need some outrageous numbers/hype. Not impossible [Te’o, Hutchinson came relatively close; Woodson won it but he wasn’t purely defense], but a lot would have to break right)
Defenseman: Offensive lineman (almost certainly never gonna happen, even if truly the best player in the sport/most deserving)

For the record, I feel like if a goalie is ever going to win one, Entenmann next year is probably the best chance. He’ll have a ton of hype/buzz heading into and lasting throughout the whole season (presuming his play stays at least at the level it was this season, if not even elevated a bit).

saying but I think it's different from any sport. The difference between a good goalie and an excellent one is that s/he will jumpstart the offense with a perfect outlet pass following a save. They see the field and start the offensive possession. Entenmann is not only outstanding in making saves but in driving good offensive possessions by making outlets to the side of the field where you want to exploit.

This is where they are different from a purely defensive player and more like a Charles Woodson or that meathead HC from Boulder. They not only shut down on D but kick start the offense with a good return.

The best coaches treat goalies not just as the last line of defense but as the first person on offense.

I agree with you though, especially that Entenmann will be the front runner next year.

I was not making a position to position comparison. A goalie’s hardly ever getting an assist in the stat sheet the way Woodson would get return/receiving yards/TDs to accumulate stats. While a goalie’s clearing ability can factor in (particularly colloquially) to the overall well-rounded judgment of his ability at the position, it’ll likely play a very, very minimal role at best in his Tewaaraton chances.

Not to mention, all goalies are responsible for clearing the ball (whether they’re good, bad or average at it). A good clearing goalie isn’t “unique” or doing “extra” compared to other goalies. Woodson was unique/doing extra because most starting defensive players do not play special teams/return kicks and even fewer get offensive snaps.

Woodson would be like if your starting goalie was also a man-up specialist and added some goals/assists that way.

...several times, so some committee sees their value.

Tillman Johnson of UVA was the most recent, in 2003. Princeton's Scott Bacigalupo before him on '94. And Larry Quinn of Hopkins twice in the '80s.
Bacigalupo was pretty incredible to watch.

...given that Tillman Johnson (I do remember him!) was in 2003, twenty years ago. Wow.

I'm going to have to dwell on Bacigalupo. It gets a bit fuzzy going back after the spectre of Scotty Rogers! ;-)