Maryland senior Niko Amato is the first goalie in Atlantic Coast Conference men's lacrosse history to be named all-conference four times, the league announced Wednesday.
Amato leads a league-best five Terps honored by the ACC. Just seven players have ever been honored four times, including Duke attackman Jordan Wolf, who also made the list this season.
Senior midfielder Mike Chanenchuk, senior defender Michael Ehrhardt, junior defender Goran Murray and junior faceoff specialist Charlie Raffa are all first-time honorees for the No. 6 Terps. The five All-ACC selections are the most for the Terps since 2006, when they also placed five on the all-conference team.
All six ACC programs are represented on the team, which was determined by a vote of the six head coaches.
Amato leads the conference with a 7.38 goals-against average, which is nearly a full goal less than the second-place goalie. He is also second in the conference with a .571 save percentage, just 0.002 off the top spot. Amato's standout performance of the season came in the Terps' 10-6 victory over then-No. 1 Duke on March 1 when he recorded a season-best 17 saves. That total is the most by an ACC goalie this year.
Individual awards, including Offensive Player, Defensive Player, Coach and Freshman of the Year, will be voted on by the league's head coaches after the ACC tournament. The top-seeded Terps will play No. 4 seed Notre Dame on Friday at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., at approximately 7:30 p.m. No. 2 seed Duke battles No. 3 seed Syracuse in the first semifinal, which is slated for 5 p.m.
2014 All-ACC Men's Lacrosse Team
Niko Amato, Sr., G, Maryland
Mike Chanenchuk, Sr., M, Maryland
Michael Ehrhardt, Sr., D, Maryland
Goran Murray, Jr., D, Maryland
Charlie Raffa, Jr., M, Maryland
Deemer Class (Loyola High), So., M, Duke
Brendan Fowler, Sr., M, Duke
Myles Jones, So., M, Duke
Jordan Wolf, Sr., A, Duke
Jimmy Bitter, Jr., A, North Carolina
Ryan Creighton, Sr., M, North Carolina
Joey Sankey, Jr., A, North Carolina
Chad Tutton, Jr., M, North Carolina
Matt Kavanagh, So., A, Notre Dame
Stephen O'Hara, Sr., D, Notre Dame
Brandon Mullins, So., D, Syracuse
Kevin Rice, Jr., A, Syracuse
Mark Cockerton, Sr., A, Virginia
Advertisement