GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Top-ranked Duke and Notre Dame lead the way with five student-athletes each named to the 2018 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Lacrosse Team. Regular-season champion Syracuse placed four on the 18-member squad, which was voted upon by the league’s head coaches announced by the league office on Wednesday.
The team features eight of the ACC’s top 10 scorers, including Duke senior Justin Guterding, who leads the league with 85 points on 49 goals and 36 assists (6.07 points per game).
Guterding, a five-time ACC Player of the Week, is joined by four Blue Devil teammates in juniors Brad Smith and Cade Van Raaphorst, freshman Joe Stein and graduate student goalkeeper Danny Fowler.
Notre Dame is represented by grad student Carlson Milikin, senior John Sexton, juniors Brendan Gleason and Drew Schantz, and sophomore Bryan Constabile.
Junior Nate Solomon, redshirt sophomore Nick Mellen, sophomore Jamie Trimboli and redshirt freshman Brett Kennedy represent Syracuse.
Virginia placed sophomores Michael Kraus and Dox Aitken on the squad. North Carolina also has a pair of All-ACC selections in senior Chris Cloutier and junior Jack Rowlett.
Virginia’s Kraus ranks second behind Guterding among ACC scorers with 5.07 points per game. The pair also rank first and second in goals scored per contest, with Guterding accounting for 3.50 and Kraus 2.71. Guterding’s 2.57 assists per game are also a conference high, followed by Kraus at 2.36.
In addition to Guterding and Kraus, Duke’s Smith (3.33 ppg), Virginia’s Aitken (3.00), North Carolina’s Cloutier (2.93), Syracuse’s Solomon (2.82) and Notre Dame’s Gleason (2.62) also rank among the league’s leading scorers.
Fowler allowed the fewest goals per game of any ACC keeper (7.88 per game).
Guterding, Fowler, Raaphorsst, Sexton and Kraus are all repeat All-ACC selections from last season, with Guterding and Sexton earning their third straight All-ACC honor.
The ACC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year along with Freshman and Coach of the Year will be announced following this weekend’s ACC Championship.
The 2018 ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship will take place this weekend at Klockner Stadium on the campus of the University of the Virginia. No. 2 seed Duke (12-2 overall, 3-1 ACC) will meet No. 3 Notre Dame (6-5, 1-3) in the first semifinal game at 6 p.m., while No. 1 Syracuse (7-5, 4-0) will take on No. 4 Virginia (10-4, 1-3) in the second semifinal game at 8:30 p.m. Both games will be televised on ESPNU.
The ACC Championship again features four of the nation’s top lacrosse programs as each team in the field currently ranked among the top 18 in both national polls.
2018 All-ACC Men’s Lacrosse Team
A - Justin Guterding, Sr., Duke
A - Chris Cloutier, Sr., North Carolina
A - Brendan Gleason, Jr., Notre Dame
A - Nate Solomon, Jr., Syracuse
A - Michael Kraus, So., Virginia
M - Brad Smith, Jr., Duke
M - Bryan Costabile, So., Notre Dame
M - Jamie Trimboli, So., Syracuse
M - Dox Aitken, So., Virginia
D - Cade Van Raaphorst, Jr., Duke
D - Nick Mellen, R-So., Syracuse
D - Brett Kennedy, R-Fr., Syracuse
SSM - Carlson Milikin, GS, Notre Dame
SSM - Drew Schantz, Jr., Notre Dame
LSM - Jack Rowlett, Jr., North Carolina
LSM - John Sexton, Sr., Notre Dame
F/O - Joe Stein, Fr., Duke
G - Danny Fowler, GS, Duke