Lynnfield native Craig Yannone continues to make his mark on the St. Anselm men’s lacrosse team. The sophomore face-off specialist has earned third-team All-Conference honors in the Northeast-10 and also earned a spot on the conference’s All-Rookie team.
Yannone picked up where he left off during a three-game season last year that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that three-game span in 2020, Yannone became the first student-athlete in team history to be awarded both Player and Rookie of the Week honors.
In nine games this season, Yannone, who was a standout lacrosse player at St. John’s Prep in high school, won 126-of-204 face-offs for a percentage of .618, ranking second in the NE-10 in winning percentage.
Yannone also averaged exactly seven ground balls per game to rank third in the conference and 14th in all of NCAA Division II.
Over just 12 games Yannone now ranks atop the program’s all-time leaderboard in career face-off winning percentage (.620, 178-for-287) and his .618 winning percentage this season is first among student-athletes with at least 100 face-off wins in a season.
He was named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s Division II Team of the Week for the first time in his career on April 8.
The Hawks have racked up a 10-0 record so far in 2021 and won the NE-10 Regular Season Championship for the first time. Saint Anselm has captured a program-record 13 consecutive games dating back to that pandemic-shortened 2020 season and is ranked ninth in NCAA Division II by the USILA — that ranking is believed to be the highest in team history.
St. Anselm opens the NE-10 postseason on Saturday, May 1, taking on Assumption at 1 p.m.