Monfort, Winter Named Bucknell Captains

from press release

Bucknell head men’s lacrosse coach Frank Fedorjaka has announced that seniors Scott Monfort (Worthington, Ohio/Worthington) and Austin Winter (Boonton Twp., N.J./Mountain Lakes) have been elected co-captains for the 2010 season. Monfort has been a key contributor as a long-stick defensive midfielder, while Winter is an All-America attackman who will be chasing some program records this spring.
 
Bucknell swept all six Patriot League opponents en route to a regular-season title last season, and balance at both ends of the field was a major reason why. Monfort was one of the leaders of a defense that ranked second in the league and 12th in the nation in scoring defense at 7.98 goals per game. The Bison man-down unit also ranked No. 2 in the conference and fifth nationally after killing penalties at an 80.0 percent clip.
 
“Scott is a leader by example,” said head coach Frank Fedorjaka. “He is a quiet, hard-working, no-nonsense type of captain. He obviously knows our defense very well, and on the field he can be very vocal when he needs to be. He is an outstanding long-stick defensive midfielder, and as a chemical engineering major with a 3.8 GPA, he is the definition of a student-athlete.”
 
Winter is authoring one of the finest careers in program history, and in 2010 he will add the title of team captain to his resume. In 2009 he earned Honorable Mention All-America and First Team All-Patriot League honors for the second year in a row after totaling 49 points on 17 goals and 32 assists. One of the finest passers in the nation, Winter has 94 assists in three seasons. That total already ranks third on Bucknell’s career chart. Only Peter von Hoffmann and Chris Cara with 138 each have had more assists in a Bucknell uniform.
 
Winter has also produced 56 career goals, giving him 150 total points, fifth-most in Bucknell history. Last year, he had multiple points in all but two of his 15 games. He had a season-high six points against Lehigh and also had four five-point games, the last coming against Navy in the Patriot League championship game when he had two goals and three assists.
 
Last season Winter became the fifth two-time All-American in program history. Bucknell has never had a three-time All-American.
 
“Austin has the ability to grab the entire team’s attention at once,” said Fedorjaka. “His teammates have the ultimate respect for him and follow his lead because of how hard he works every minute of practice. I have never had a player work as hard as Austin on a daily basis. Any time you have an All-America talent that is also your hardest worker, that is a coach’s dream.”
 
Bucknell hosted the Patriot League Tournament for the first time last season after capturing the regular-season title. With Winter and Monfort heading a large group of returning players from that team, the Bison will be looking to take the next step toward capturing a tournament title after suffering a heartbreaking one-goal loss to Navy in the 2009 final.
 
Bucknell opens the 2010 campaign on Saturday, Feb. 13 against Duke at McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Ga., outside Atlanta. It will be the third straight season that the Bison and Blue Devils have met in the season opener, with Duke winning in both 2008 and 2009. Duke finished last season ranked No. 3 in the nation.
 
Bucknell's home opener will follow one week later on Feb. 20, as the Bison host Ohio State at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Other home games come against Hobart, Lafayette, Army, Lehigh and Colgate.
 
New to the schedule this season are Albany, which will host Bucknell on March 27, and first-year program Jacksonville, which will meet the Bison in Winston-Salem, N.C., for a game on March 16.
 
Bucknell's Patriot League opener will be a championship-game rematch with Navy in Annapolis on March 6. Additional road contests come against Towson on Feb. 27 and Penn State on March 30.
 
The Patriot League Tournament will once again be held on the campus of the highest-seeded team. The semifinal games will be held on Apr. 30, with the championship game on May 2.