USILA Scholar All-Americans
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh men's lacrosse senior Kurtis Kaunas was named a Scholar All-American on Monday for his success on the field and in the classroom. Kaunas owns a GPA over 3.2 and was named an All-Patriot League honoree each of his last two seasons.
A USILA Scholar All-American must be nominated by his coach and be a student with a senior year academic standing and cumulative GPA of 3.0. He must also be an All-American, a member of a North/South team, or an outstanding league or conference player. The player will have behaved in a manner that has brought credit to himself, his institution and to college lacrosse both on and off the field.
Kaunas continues a long list of Lehigh student-athletes to earn the award. Most recently, Ty Souders was named a Scholar All-American last season while Brian Hess and Ryan Snyder earned the honor in 2013. In total, seven from the Patriot League received the honor.
Kaunas graduated on Monday as a Finance major who's enjoyed tremendous success in the classroom. The Schnecksville, Pa. native has been named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll while earning the Faculty Athletics Council Award. He also earned a spot on the Dean's List multiple times for a semester GPA over 3.6.
On the field, Kaunas earned second team All-Patriot League honors for a second straight season. He finished third on the team, and tops among midfielders, with 32 points behind 22 goals and 10 assists to up his career totals to 52 goals and 21 assists, respectively. Kaunas tallied his second-career hat trick against #14 Princeton before scoring twice, including the go-ahead goal in the fourth quarter, at #18 Stony Brook as Lehigh took down two straight nationally-ranked foes. Kaunas finished with eight multi-goal games as a senior, reaching four points on two separate occasions. While at Lehigh, Kaunas helped the Mountain Hawks reach four straight Patriot League Tournaments including two championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. Lehigh finished 46-22 over Kaunas' four years as his class finished tied (with the class of 2014) as the winningest class in program history.
Lehigh advanced to its fifth straight Patriot League Tournament in 2015, winning five of its last seven games including back-to-back wins over nationally-ranked Princeton and Stony Brook. Taylor and his senior class tied last year's class as the winningest in program history, advancing to four league tournaments and winning two Patriot League Championships.
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