UVA Places Six Players On Prestigious USILA All-America Team
Posted on Thursday, May. 23, 2019, 11:13 pm
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Courtesy UVA Sports Media Relations
UVA placed six players on the 2019 USILA All-America team, announced by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. Highlighting the six selections were first-team members midfielder Dox Aitken, midfielder Ryan Conrad and long-stick midfielder Jared Conners. Attackman Michael Kraus was named to the third team, while defenseman Logan Greco and attackman Matt Moore earned honorable mention honors.
Aitken is the 15th Cavalier all-time to earn first-team All-America honors multiple times. UVA has three first-team honorees for the first time since 2009 when Shamel Bratton, Ken Clausen and Dan Glading all took home the accolade. UVA’s six All-America honorees are the most since having six in 2014, however that year the Cavaliers didn’t have a first-team recipient.
Conrad earned third-team honors in 2017, while Kraus took home second-team honors last year. It is the first career All-America accolades for Conners, Greco and Moore.
Aitken has broken the career UVA scoring records by a midfielder with 107 career goals and 135 career points. His 46 points in 2019 is tied for No. 4 on UVA’s single-season ledger by a midfielder, needing five more to equal his own record from 2018. Aitken is No. 3 on the team with 39 goals, which ties his 2018 output for No. 2 on UVA’s single-season ledger by a midfielder.
Conrad is tied with Aitken with 46 points and also tied for No. 4 on UVA’s single-season ledger by a midfielder. With 46 points and 83 ground balls, Conrad is the only player in the nation with 11+ points and 70+ ground balls. His 18 assists rank No. 4 by a UVA midfielder in a season.
Conners is one of the nation’s most prolific long-stick midfielders. A threat on offense, Conners has five goals and one assist in 2019, while posting 21 career points (13-8). Conners has picked up 48 ground balls and caused 26 turnovers. A stalwart on defense, in two games against Notre Dame Conners limited first-team All-American Bryan Costabile to only two points, which came on two goals and one of which was a man-up situation.
Kraus missed three games with an injury, but still ranks No. 1 in the ACC and No. 19 in the nation with 4.47 points per game. He has 35 goals and 32 assists through 15 games and his 47-game streak with a point ranks No. 5 in the nation among active streaks.
Greco has been stellar on defense, picking up 33 ground balls and causing 20 turnovers. He leads UVA with 52 career starts. He enters Championship Weekend with 82 career ground balls and 48 caused turnovers.
Moore became UVA’s first 40-40 man in program history and is only the fourth Cavalier to reach 80 points in a season, joining Doug Knight (1996), Steele Stanwick (2012) and Kraus (2018). Moore is No. 2 in the ACC and No. 20 in the nation with 4.44 points per game.
