LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association has announced its 2023 academic awards presented by Blatant Lacrosse, and the Bellarmine team along with Benny O'Rourk and Jacob Berggren received accolades.
 
The Bellarmine team was one of just 38 DI squads to win a USILA Team Academic Award for 2022-23.  The Bellarmine team posted a team grade point average of 3.31 in the fall and a 3.41 during the spring while also setting a new school record for wins in a season with 11. This marks the third consecutive year Bellarmine has earned a USILA Team Academic Award.

O'Rourk and Berggren become the sixth and seventh Bellarmine lacrosse players to earn spots on the USILA Scholar All-American squad.  Previous honorees include Jon Robbins, Eric Rubak, and Landon Trout in 2021 as well as Colin Hart in 2015 and Kevin Fahey in 2018.

The USILA established the Scholar All-America program to recognize student-athletes from member institutions who have distinguished themselves academically, athletically and as citizens of their communities. A USILA Scholar All-American must be nominated by his coach and be a student with a senior year academic standing and a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (4.0 scale). He will have behaved in a manner that has brought credit to himself, his institution, and to college lacrosse both on and off the field.
 
O'Rourk has been a high-performer in the classroom and on the field throughout his Bellarmine career.  This season he was a second team All-ASUN honoree and helped the Bellarmine offense set program records in virtually every scoring statistic. Individually, he ranked second on the team in assists (20), shots (119) and shots on goal (76) while tying for second in points (60) and goals (40) and tying for fourth in caused turnovers with eight. A business administration major, the Hilton Head, South Carolina native carries a grade point average of 3.38.
 
Berggren turned in an outstanding season on the field while maintaining a stellar 3.93 grade point average in his master of business administration curriculum.  A defenseman from Tualatin, Oregon, Berggren was the Knights' leader in caused turnovers this season with 23 and led the entire conference in ground balls by a non-faceoff specialist with 62.  He was named to the ASUN Conference's All-Academic Team while also earning Second Team All-Conference accolades.
 
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A full list of the USILA academic awards is available at https://usila.org/index.aspx.