Hilton, NY – Russell Sage College's men's lacrosse team had three players honored on Monday with the announcement of the 2023 Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse All-Conference Teams.

Named to the Second Team on attack was rookie Nate Kettle (Killbuck, NY/Salamanca), while sophomore Joe Johnson (Gansevoort, NY/South Glens Falls) was chosen for the third team on defense and sophomore defensemen Drew Rankin (Painted Post, NY/Corning Painted Post) was named to the Sportsman Team.

Kettle started 15 of 16 games played and led all newcomers with 45 points on 32 goals with 13 assists. He added seven man-up goals and added 31 ground ball pickups and 6 caused turnovers.

He has scored in 12 games with eight multiple-goal performances and also scored three or more goals on  seven different occasions. He owns a .590 shots on goal percentage. He is ranked No.10 in the Empire 8 this spring with his 2.0 goals per game average, while his 2.81 points per game average is 12th highest.

Johnson tallied 17 starts in 2023 and had a team-best 73 ground ball pickups with 34 caused turnovers. He also tallied three points on two goals with an assist. He ranks second in the Empire 8 with a 2.0 caused turnovers per game average, while standing fifth with a 4.29 ground balls per game average in the league. Johnson is making his mark in the program record book as well as he is third with 100 career ground balls, third with a 3.57 career ground balls per game average, second with 47 caused turnovers and currently first with his 1.68 career caused turnovers per game average in 28 games played.

Rankin made 16 starts and helped to anchor the defense for the Gators. He caused 14 turnovers and had 28 ground balls along the way.

One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2023 Men's Lacrosse Sportsman of the Year Team. The Empire 8 Conference emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportsmen. RSC's Rankin was named to the team for his contributions.

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