June 3, 2002

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team named its 2002 team award winners Saturday at the squad's annual post-season luncheon.

Freshman goalkeeper Paul Spellman of Cockeysville, Md. was the big winner as he garnered two awards. Spellman won the Turnbull Trophy as the team's most valuable player and he shared the Jay Gallagher Award as the top freshman with midfielder Bryant Will and attackman Jed Prossner.

Other winners were sophomore Kevin Frew (Holmes Harden Memorial Award), sophomore Matt Pessagno (Kevin Riechardt Memorial Award), senior Tim Gosier (Dan Andrews Award) and senior Pat Jackson (Needham Award).

Spellman started all 13 games in goal for the Tar Heels and played all but two minutes of the 2002 season in the cage. He had a brilliant goals against average of 8.58 and he saved .601 percent of the shots against him to be named the squad's Most Valuable Player. He also finished second on the team with 52 ground balls.

He shared the Jay Gallagher Award for outstanding freshman with Bryant Will and Prossner. Will, from Phoenix, Md., was the team's top midfield scorer in 2002 with 29 points, which tied him for second on the team overall. He tied for the team lead in assists with 16. Prossner, from Easton, Md., led the Tar Heels as a freshman in scoring with 34 points on 18 goals and 16 assists.

Frew, a midfielder from Baldwin, Md., won the Harden Award for the player who claims the most ground balls on the team. Carolina's top faceoff man in 2002 with a .582 winning percentage, Frew claimed 59 ground balls on the season. Pessgano, a defensman from Harwood, Md., won the Reichardt Award given to the team's Most Improved Player. Pessagno started all 13 games for the Tar Heels on close defense and he had 46 ground balls, third highest total on the team.

Two seniors won the other awards. Gosier, a Roxbury, Mass., native won the Dan Andrews Award for sportsmanship. Gosier had a career high 16 goals for the Tar Heels in 2002 while starting every game. Jackson, a Baltimore, Md. native, had a magnificent senior year with 16 goals and six assists and he earned the Needham Award as the squad's unsung hero.

The Danny Fox Memorial Award given for outstanding service to the Tar Heel lacrosse program was won jointly by trainer Thomas Michell, who worked with the team the past three years, and Bill Piscatello, the owner of Breadman's Restaurant in Chapel Hill and long-time supporter of Tar Heel men's lacrosse.