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LOWELL, Mass. - The UMass Lowell Men's Lacrosse team hosted its Academic Awards and Leadership banquet on Thursday night at Alumni Hall, honoring 33 student-athletes who received a 3.0 or higher grade point average during the fall semester.

"This event is about celebrating academic performance and leadership development, and giving thanks to all of those that support us," said Head Coach Ed Stephenson. "We've been trying to build a culture of academic excellence since our first class arrived on campus a year ago, and tonight we get to celebrate this perpetual journey."

Three River Hawks received the highest honor of the night, the Diamond Hawk Award, given to those athletes who achieved a semester grade point average of 4.00. Junior attackman Martin Winter (Lake Oswego, Ore.) earned his third consecutive Diamond Hawk honor, while senior midfielder Kyle Strong (Groton, Mass) was honored at the Diamond level for the second time and freshman goalkeeper Grant Lardieri (Ada, Mich.) earned Diamond status for the first time in his career.

"I am especially proud of these young men because I anticipated this level of performance to come in year three," explained Stephenson. "We had 80 percent of our team achieve above a 3.30 GPA, 25 percent of whom were over a 3.7. This group has a chance to create a very special legacy, and I'm thrilled with their start".

For the fall semester, the men's lacrosse team earned a combined 3.35 grade point average (GPA), earning the highest overall team GPA of any team in the River Hawks' athletic department. The team had 24 student-athletes post a 3.0 or higher, 11 higher than the previous year.

The names of this year's award winners from the fall semester are listed below.

Diamond Hawk Award Recipients (4.00 GPA) -3
Grant Lardieri (Fr., GK, Ada, Mich.)
Kyle Strong (Sr., M, Groton, Mass.)
Martin Winter (Jr., A/M, Lake Oswego, Ore.)

Gold Hawk Award Recipients (3.70-3.99 GPA) - 7
Mark Campanile (Fr., A, West Chester, Pa.)
Wesley Harrington (Fr., D, Westford, Mass.)
Josh Masse (So., D, Weymouth, Mass.)
Blaine McMahon (Fr. A/M, New Milford, Conn.)
Giles Ober (Jr., GK, Southborough, Mass.)
Gregory Ponce (Fr., GK, West Islip, N.Y.)
Will Puduski (So., D, Westford, Mass.)

Silver Hawk Award Recipients (3.30-3.69 GPA) - 16
John Bartlett (Fr., D/LSM, Methuen, Mass.)
Cory Highfield (So., A, Georgetown, Ontario)
Keenan Koswin (So., M, Aloha, Ore.)
Ryder Lessing (Fr., D/LSM, Framingham, Mass.)
Christopher Litchfield (Jr., D, Burlington, Mass.)
Brandon Luitwieler (So., M, Calgary, Alta.)
Haydn Matarazzo (Fr., D, Oakhurst, N.J.)
Ryan Morrison (Fr., A/M, Uxbridge, Ontario)
Jon Phillips (So., A, Delta, B.C.)
Nicholas Pino (Jr., A/M, North Andover, Mass.)
Michael Russo (Fr., D, Lowell, Mass.)
William Russo (Fr., M, Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.)
Bain Schroeder (So., D, Ellicott, City, Md.)
Gage Sevigny (Fr., M, Goffstown, N.H.)
Sean Tyrrell (So., A, Calgary, Alberta)
Jared Zaniewski (So., M, Sandwich, Mass.)

Bronze Hawk Award Recipients (3.0-3.29 GPA) - 7
Matthew Balter (So., A, West Sand Lake, N.Y.)
Jonathon Connolly (Team IMPACT, Haverhill, Mass.)
Nicholas D'Eramo (Fr., M, Burlington, Mass.)
Sam Klingsporn (Jr., M, Aloha, Ore.)
Brian Porcella (Student Manger)
Joseph Pescatore (Fr., FOM, Waltham, Mass.)
Michael Rouskas (Fr., FOM, Montville, N.J.)