BRUNSWICK, Maine – For the first time since the institution of league play in 2001, a men's lacrosse team has swept the New England Small College Athletic Conference's major awards, as the Bowdoin College Polar Bears collected Player, Rookie and Coach of the Year in conference honors handed out Thursday.
 
Senior Donal Mullane (Washington, D.C.) was named Player of the Year, sophomore Will Byrne (Darien, Conn.) was named Rookie of the Year and first-year head coach Bill Mason claimed Coach of the Year in the league's annual awards.
 
Additionally, Mullane was named First Team All-NESCAC along with faceoff specialist Ethan Barnard (Boxford, Mass.) and short-stick midfielder Zack Goorno (Concord, Mass.). Byrne was a Second Team All-NESCAC choice along with defender AJ Bravo (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and goaltender Robert Hobbs (Wayne, Pa.).
 
Mullane has enjoyed a record-setting campaign as a senior for the Polar Bears, breaking the school's single-game points record (12 vs. Conn. College on April 23) and tying the school's single-game goals mark (8 vs. Clark on April 20) and despite missing three games due to injury, has 54 goals, 40 assists and 94 points this spring. He is three points shy of tying the school's single-season scoring record (97, by Tom Ryan in 1993) and is six points short of becoming Bowdoin's first-ever 100-point scorer in a season. He is the second player in school history to be named NESCAC Player of the Year, joining Connor Fitzgerald in 2006.
 
In his first campaign, Byrne burst onto the scene with an explosive offensive campaign, trailing only Mullane in scoring for the Polar Bears. Byrne has 72 points on 46 goals and 26 helpers so far this year and has recorded a hat trick in nine games this season. He is the second Polar Bear to earn NESCAC Rookie of the Year, joining Clayton Wright in 2016.
 
Mason, who is in his first season at the helm of the Bowdoin program, becomes the third Polar Bear coach to garner the NESCAC Coach of the Year honor. Mason led Bowdoin to the best start in program history (14-0) and the second-seeded Polar Bears enter a NESCAC Semifinal matchup versus No. 3 Amherst with 15 wins, having already tied the program record for single-season victories set by the 1989 and 1990 squads.
 
Ethan Barnard and Zack Goorno joined Mullane as First Team All-Conference choices. Barnard was Bowdoin's primary face-off specialist, sparking the Polar Bears with a .637 win percentage on the X, along with a league-best 275 wins on the season. Goorno was a force in the midfield for the Polar Bears, ranking second (behind Barnard) with 62 ground balls while also contributing 10 goals and six assists.
 
Goaltender Robert Hobbs and defender AJ Bravo joined Byrne as Second Team choices, anchoring the Bowdoin defense this season. Bravo led Bowdoin, and ranked among the NESCAC leaders, with 14 caused turnovers this season while also grabbing 24 ground balls. In his debut campaign, Hobbs led the NESCAC with 219 saves on the year, averaging 13.69/game and posting an excellent .548 save percentage.
 
The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday afternoon when they battle Amherst in the NESCAC Semifinals at Tufts at 3:00 p.m.