RICHMOND, Va. – Former Towson University standouts Casey Cittadino, '06, Danny Cocchi, '03, Ben DeFelice, '04, Jonathan Engelke, '08 and Reed Sothoron, '05 have been named to the Colonial Athletic Association's 25th Anniversary Men's Lacrosse team, it has been announced by CAA officials.
In conjunction with its 25th anniversary celebration, the CAA is selecting 25th Anniversary Teams in 21 sports. Each team has 25 honorees.
“It's an outstanding honor for all five of these guys,” Towson Coach Tony Seaman said. “They made tremendous contributions to our program and were key players to our success in the CAA.”
A three-time All-CAA selection, Cittadino, who was a defensive midfielder, was named to the All-CAA first team after leading the Tigers to the 2004 and 2005 CAA titles. Honored as the CAA Championship Most Outstanding Player in 2004, he was a two-time selection to the All-Tournament Team.
Cittadino played in 61 career games and scored five goals with 11 assists. He finished his career ranked second in school history with 65 caused turnovers and also tallied 85 ground balls.
Drafted by the Denver Outlaws in the second round of the 2006 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft, Cittadino has played in 41 career games with the Outlaws and has helped Denver reach the MLL Championship Game in each of the last two years.
“Casey is one of the better athletes to play for us at Towson and was a highly successful defensive midfielder,” Coach Seaman said. “He was able to get a lot of offense generated for us at the defensive end. He really started to peak for us when he graduated and has been a very good professional player.”
A three-time All-America selection for the Tigers, Cocchi, who was a long-stick defenseman, earned second team All-America honors as a sophomore after leading the Tigers to the America East championship and a berth in the NCAA semi-finals. He scored five goals and had 112 ground balls in 18 games.
Cocchi earned honorable mention All-America notice as a junior and senior. He was a four-time all-conference selection, earning first team All-CAA honors in 2002 and 2003.
Named as the CAA Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2003, Cocchi scored one goal with two assists in helping the Tigers win their first CAA championship. He also had 55 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers.
During his junior season, Cocchi played in 12 games and scored one goal with three assists. He tallied 79 ground balls in the Tigers' first season as members of the CAA.
A fourth round pick by the Bridgeport Barrage in the 2003 MLL Collegiate Draft, Cocchi has played for four teams during his seven-year professional career. He helped the Baltimore Bayhawks win the 2005 MLL title.
“Danny is probably the best long-stick defenseman that I have coached over the years,” said Coach Seaman. “He is a tremendous athlete with great speed and was a high scorer for us from the defensive end of the field. He turned into an outstanding professional player.”
One of the top face-off specialists in school history, DeFelice ranks sixth in school history with 357 career face-off wins and a .612 career face-off win percentage. After earning honorable mention All-America honors as a junior, the Baltimore, Md. native was named as the CAA Co-Player of the Year as a senior, leading the Tigers to their second straight conference title.
In 2004, DeFelice won 65.1 per cent of his face-offs while recording 135 ground balls, the second-highest single-season total in school history. He scored 12 goals with eight assists while helping the Tigers to an 11-5 record.
Drafted by the Bridgeport Barrage in the second round of the 2004 MLL Collegiate Draft, DeFelice has played for four teams during his six-year career and helped Baltimore win the 2005 MLL title.
“Ben DeFelice could have started for us at either midfield or attack, but he was such a dominating face-off guy that we used him in that role,” Coach Seaman said. “He continued our tradition of having strong players at the face-off position.”
The CAA's all-time leading scorer with 113 goals, Engelke finished his career ranked third in school history. With 156 career points, he stands tenth on the Tigers' all-time list and is second in CAA history.
Engelke earned first team All-CAA honors at attack as a freshman and senior in addition to being named as the 2004 CAA Co-Rookie of the Year.
During his senior season, Engelke was the Tigers' leading scorer with 33 goals and 21 assists. He also scored 31 goals as a freshman, including an eight-goal performance in a win over Villanova.
Engelke was drafted by the Long Island Lizards in the fourth round of the 2008 MLL Collegiate Draft.
“Jonathan was a great finisher for us and he was great around the goal,” Coach Seaman said. “If you got him the ball around the goal, it was most likely going to go in the goal. I am most proud of the fact that he did well in the classroom and graduated.”
A three-time All-CAA selection as the Tigers' goalkeeper, Sothoron helped the Tigers win three consecutive CAA titles. He earned first team notice as a sophomore and senior while being named to the second team as a junior. In addition, he was selected as the 2005 CAA Championship's Most Outstanding Player and was a two-time All-Tournament Team pick.
A native of Lexington Park, Md., Sothoron finished his career ranked third in school history with 578 saves while his 9.13 goals against average ranks second on the Tigers' all-time list.
Sothoron was selected by the San Francisco Dragons in the seventh round of the 2006 MLL Collegiate Draft. He played in one game for the Denver Outlaws in 2007.
“Reed was a great competitor,” Coach Seaman said. “It seemed that the tougher the game, the tougher Reed played for us.”
