Zach Pierce was named Defensive Player of the Year by the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and was one of six Tigers to earn all-conference honors after a ballot of the league's coaches.

Pierce, a long-stick midfielder, was joined on the all-SCAC first team by senior defender Ian Coughlan, junior midfielder Charles Curtis and freshman defender Connor Ervin. Senior attackman Moses Taylor and junior midfielder Steve Rijo were second-team selections. 

A senior from Denver, Pierce led the Tigers with career highs of 68 ground balls and 37 caused turnovers. Thanks in part to his efforts, CC ranked 21st in Division III averaging 38.93 ground balls per game and 24th with a .606 faceoff percentage.

During a 13-8 victory over Sewanee on March 25, Pierce grabbed a career-high 10 ground balls and tied his single-game best with five caused turnovers. His 181 career ground balls and 82 caused turnovers rank first among all 2012 Tigers.

Coughlan earned a spot in the starting lineup as a junior and has remained there for 28 of the last 31 games. The close defender tied for third on the team with 10 caused turnovers and eighth with 21 ground balls.

Ervin, also a close defender who started all 15 games in his first collegiate season, finished second with 12 caused turnovers as well as sixth with 24 ground balls.

Coughlan and Ervin anchored a Colorado College defense that ranked No. 10 nationally in scoring defense and tied for No. 21 in man-down defense. As a team, the Tigers held eight of 15 opponents to five goals or less. They allowed 10 or more on only two occasions.

Curtis paced the CC attack with 16 assists, finished third with a career-high 33 points and was fifth with a single-season high of 17 goals. He also led the team with a .447 shooting percentage on 38 total attempts.

Rijo was one of four Tigers to record double-digit goals and assists. He finished fifth with 10 assists and 26 points, and tied for sixth with 16 goals. Rijo struck for a single-game high of five goals against Hendrix College, and came back with a goal and a personal-best four assists in the next outing at Rhodes College.

Perhaps the biggest surprise among the all-SCAC honors was Taylor landing on the second team. The four-year starter and two-time first-team selection led the Tigers with 29 goals and 40 points, and ranked fourth with 11 assists. He also led the SCAC with five game-winning goals.

Taylor suffered a separated shoulder in the 13-8 victory over Sewanee in the semifinals of the SCAC tournament and missed the championship game two days later. In the final game of his career, he scored five goals during an 11-6 victory over Whittier College last Saturday.

Colorado College finished the season with a 12-3 overall record and won the SCAC regular-season title for the third consecutive year with a 9-0 mark.