Courtesy of Navy Athletic Communications

DANBURY, Conn. —  Navy faceoff specialist Zach Hayashi (Fr / North Potomac, Md.) was named the ECAC Rookie of the Year, while both Hayashi and All-America defenseman Jackson Bonitz (Sr / D / Shrewsbury, Pa.) were named to the All-ECAC Team the organization announced Wednesday afternoon.

Hayashi's body of work from his freshman season was spectacular. He closed out his first season at Navy ranked second in the Patriot League and 18th nationally in faceoff winning percentage (214-372, 57.5), was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week 4 times, the Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Week 4 times and earned a spot on the USILA National Team of the Week twice. Garnering Second-Team All-Patriot League recognition, Hayashi is one of only 5 Navy freshmen all-time to garner All-Patriot League accolades, joining midfielder Basil Daratsos (2007), faceoff specialist Brady Dove (2014), defenseman Jackson Bonitz (2021) and long-stick midfielder AJ Marsh (2024). Additionally, Hayashi was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year, becoming just the third Navy player to earn the award (2004 - midfielder Billy Looney and 2011 - attackman Tucker Hull). Meanwhile, he is the fourth faceoff specialist in Patriot League history (since 1991) to earn the award, joining Colgate's Peter Strid (1993), Lehigh's Craig Brown (1995) and Colgate's Parker Gibson (1998).

He closed out his first season at Navy breaking several school records, including the single-season faceoff mark. He stands alone as the only player in program history to reach 200 faceoff wins in a single season, breaking the previous record of 185 wins. He also broke the Navy freshman records for faceoff wins (214) and attempts (372) which were both previously held by Brady Dove (163-289 / 2014). Remarkably, after just one season of action, Hayashi already stands seventh on Navy's career faceoff wins leader board.

Hayashi also broke the school record for single-season ground balls (105) and joins Dove as the only two players in Navy history to reach 100 ground balls in a single season. He also shattered the Navy freshman mark by 22 ground balls (Dove, 83 / 2014).

A member of the 2024 Patriot League All-Tournament Team, Hayashi also broke the school records for most faceoffs won (18) and attempted (26), along with most ground balls (11) in a Patriot League Tournament contest in the Mids' win over Loyola in the Patriot League Quarterfinals.

Bonitz capped his Navy lacrosse as the recipient of the Naval Academy Athletic Association Sword for Men which is presented to that man of the graduating class who is considered by the Association's Athletic Council to have personally excelled in men's athletics during his years of varsity competition. Additionally, Bonitz garnered Honorable Mention All-America honors from the USILA for the third-consecutive year. He is the 35th player in the program's 117-year history to garner USILA All-America three times and the first since Chris Fennell, who earned the honor in 2015, '16 and '17. Bonitz also garnered Honorable Mention All-America honors from both USA Lacrosse and Inside Lacrosse earlier this month and graduates as a three-time All-American by both organizations.

Bonitz became only the second Navy player (Brady Dove 2014-15-16-17) to garner All-Patriot League honors all four years when he was named to the first team this spring. He is also one of eight Navy players (first since Greyson Torain, 2017-18-19) to earn first-team recognition three times.

Bonitz has started every game in which he played (53) over his four-year career and graduates second on the Navy's caused turnovers list (79). He joins three-time All-Patriot League long-stick midfielder Matt Rees as the only two players in school history to reach 70 caused turnovers in a career, while they are also the only two players to have their name appear three times on Navy's single-season caused turnovers leader board. Bonitz recorded 18 caused turnovers in 2022, posted 22 last spring and led the team with 29 in 2024 which is tied for the third most at Navy. Additionally, he presented himself as a dangerous threat in the transition game where he produced 12 points over his career with 6 goals and 6 assists. He closed out his career tied for fourth all-time among Navy's defensemen (close defense / long stick midfielders) in career points and stands alone in sixth in career goals. This past spring, he scored 3 goals and added 3 assists. Bonitz also had a nose for loose balls, joining Navy's career ground balls record book where he ranked 13th with 157 over 4 years. He served as the cornerstone on a defensive unit that was ranked among the top 12 in scoring defense in each of his first three seasons, while this spring the Mids were #1 in the Patriot League and 24th nationally.

Respected by his peers, Bonitz not only served alongside Jackson Peters as co-captain of the lacrosse team, he was also elected to serve as the Captain of the Captains for the 2023-24 academic year representing Navy's 36 varsity programs.

2024 All-ECAC Team
A – Matt Brandau, Yale
A – Nick DeMaio, Towson
A – CJ Kirst, Cornell
M – Adam Poitras, Loyola
M – Mikey Weisshaar, Towson
M – Shane Knobloch, Rutgers
D – Jackson Bonitz, Navy
D – Colin Mulshine, Princeton
D – Brendan Lavelle, Penn
LSM – Jake Piseno, Albany
FO – Zach Hayashi, Navy
G – Emmet Carroll, Penn

Offensive Player of the Year – Matt Brandau, Yale
Defensive Player of the Year – Jake Piseno, Albany
Rookie of the Year – Zach Hayashi, Navy
Coach of the Year – Shawn Nadelen, Towson