Lassiter midfielder Tucker Hammock was proud to be named an all-American after his senior season of lacrosse.

It was an award well-deserved.

Hammock had weapons on both ends of the field in 2010 as he led the Trojans to the Class AAAAA state finals, an Area 2AAAAA championship and a 17-5 record. He finished his senior year with 60 goals, 56 assists and was among the team leaders in groundballs.

Opposing teams had difficulty slowing him down throughout the season, at least until the state finals, when Milton either double- or triple-teamed Hammock in Lassiter's 13-5 loss, keeping him scoreless on seven shots.

But up until then, Hammock played a major role in virtually every game and played an invaluable part in Lassiter pulling out many close wins against the state's top teams.

For his efforts, Hammock is the 2010 Marietta Daily Journal/Cobb County Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year, and he underwent a busy offseason to gear in order to be a more complete player his senior year. Hammock played with the Double Stixx club lacrosse team and participated in many summer tournaments.

"I always had the stick skills and felt like I was getting stronger and faster, and everything finally came together this season," Hammock said. "What I did to prepare, I just played as much lacrosse as I could."

The week of March 20 was when Hammock and Lassiter knew they had a special team. The Trojans pulled out one-goal victories over Northview, Harrison and Milton, which all joined Lassiter among Class AAAAA's final four. And Hammock played a valuable role in all three of those games.

He scored four goals against Northview, including the game-tying one that led to an 11-10 Lassiter win. Hammock also had a hat trick and the game-winning assist in Lassiter's 10-9 win over Milton and he added three goals in a 8-7 overtime win, with two of those goals coming off back-to-back faceoffs.

"That was the first test that we had (of the season)," Hammock said. "Those were a lot of close games. They were probably closer than they should have been, but that was when our season really started."

The three consecutive one-goal wins carried over into April when Lassiter grinded out a 10-9 win over Alpharetta, thanks to Hammock's winning score with 9 seconds left. Later in the month, Lassiter survived a 14-12 battle over Walton for the area title behind Hammock's four goals and two assists.

Hammock's now headed to Pfeiffer University, where he will play lacrosse for the Division II team in North Carolina. He may be just the player the Falcons need.

"I like the young coaches ,and they drew me (to the program)," Hammock said. "I got to practice with team during fall and enjoyed it."