Conference Carolinas Places Four on USA Lacrosse Magazine’s 2022 Division II Preseason All-American Teams
GREENVILLE, S.C. - USA Lacrosse Magazine announced its 2022 Division II Men’s & Women’s Preseason All-Americans and four student-athletes from a pair of Conference Carolinas institutions earned the honors.
Chaija Olsson of Mount Olive represented the league on the women’s second team while fellow Trojan Andrew Avarello earned second team honors for the men. Belmont Abbey had a pair of men selected in Niel Lingerman on the second team and Noah Haas on the third team.
A redshirt senior defender from Snoqualmie, Washington, Olsson earned first team All-Conference Carolinas honors last spring and was also named second team All-IWLCA South Region. Last season she tallied four points, collected 36 ground balls and had 30 caused turnovers for the Trojans.
A native of Clarence, New York, Avarello is a two-time USILA All-American goalie and earned several accolades last spring headlined by his Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year honor. He was a first team all-conference selection, first team USIL All-South Region and second team USILA All-American. He went 11-3 last season with a 8.34 goals against average, 127 saves and a .562 save percentage.
A junior defensemen from Goshen, New York, Lingerman was a 2021 second team All-Conference Carolinas selection. He scored one goal last season, collected 23 ground balls and tallied 17 caused turnovers, the second-best mark for the Crusaders.
Haas is a junior attacker from Gulf Breeze, Florida who earned first team All-Conference Carolinas honors last season. He led the Crusaders with 48 points on 37 goals and 11 assists with a .638 shot on goal percentage. He also had 22 ground balls and seven caused turnovers.
The complete list of men’s preseason all-americans is available here while the women’s can be found
here.
The Conference Carolinas men’s and women’s lacrosse seasons begin on Friday, February 4. The women’s lacrosse conference championship will take place April 25, 28, 30 while the men’s tournament will take place April 26, 29 and May 1.