Virginia men’s lacrosse nearly sweep ACC awards

Ahead of the squad’s first round contest against Brown this Saturday, the Virginia Cavaliers’ men’s lacrosse team was recognized for its successful regular season with Lars Tiffany named ACC Coach of the Year, Cole Kastner winning ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and goalie Mathew Nunes taking home the award for ACC Freshman of the year.

Additionally. five players named to the All-ACC team with Connor Shellenberger and Matt Moore filling two of the six attack spots, Jeff Conner taking up one of the four offensive midfield spots, and Kastner being one of three close defenders picked.

Kastner was a no-brainer pick for DPOY as he led the conference caused turnovers per game with two per contest. Nunes, while struggling at times, carried the ‘Hoos in a number of games this season, posting a respectable 50% save percentage in his first season as a Wahoo.

Meanwhile, Tiffany took home his second ACC Coach of the Year award after winning it in 2019. He led the ‘Hoos to a 5-1 ACC record which clinched them a share of the ACC title with Notre Dame (even though UVA had the tiebreaker head-to-head win against the Irish).

Shellenberger is third in the ACC in points per game and second in assists per contest while Moore is sixth and fourth in those respective categories. The fifth year senior also further etched his name into the UVA history books by breaking Steele Stanwick’s all-time points record in the season finale against Lafayette.

UVA kicks off postseason action at Brown this Saturday 7:30PM with the game set to broadcast on ESPNU.

The full list of ACC Award winners and the All-ACC team:

2022 ACC Award Winners

Offensive Player of the Year – Chris Gray, North Carolina

Defensive Player of the Year – Cole Kastner, Virginia

Freshman of the Year – Matt Nunes, Virginia

Coach of the Year – Lars Tiffany, Virginia

2022 All-ACC Team

A – Chris Gray, North Carolina

A – Connor Shellenberger, Virginia

A – Pat Kavanagh, Notre Dame

A – Brennan O’Neill, Duke

A – Tucker Dordevic, Syracuse

A – Matt Moore, Virginia

M – Brendan Curry, Syracuse

M – Eric Dobson, Notre Dame

M – Jeff Conner, Virginia

M – Nakeie Montgomery, Duke

D – Arden Cohen, Notre Dame

D – Kenny Brower, Duke

D – Cole Kastner, Virginia

FO – Petey LaSalla, Virginia

SSM – Connor Maher, North Carolina

LSM – Tyler Carpenter, Duke

G – Liam Entenmann, Notre Dame

G – Mike Adler, Duke