Three Cavaliers Selected in 2023 Premier Lacrosse League College Draft

UVA men's lacrosse players Thomas McConvey, Xander Dickson, and Petey LaSalla were selected in the 2023 PLL College Draft
Virginia Athletics

The Virginia men's lacrosse program had three players selected in the 2023 Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) College Draft on Tuesday night, with Thomas McConvey, Xander Dickson, and Petey LaSalla each hearing their names called in the first 14 overall picks of the draft. 

Thomas McConvey was taken with the 8th overall pick in the first round by the Waterdogs. A graduate transfer midfielder who played the first four years of his career at Vermont, McConvey was drafted into the professional ranks of lacrosse for the second time as he was also the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 National Lacrosse League (NLL) Draft. McConvey has 26 goals and 20 assists so far in his first and only season at Virginia and his 46 points are fifth-most all-time in a single season by a UVA midfielder. His 153 career goals rank fourth among active Division I players, his 220 career points rank fifth, and he leads the nation with an active streak of 66-consecutive games with a point. 

McConvey joins another former Wahoo on the roster of the defending PLL Champion Waterdogs in Ryan Conrad. Virginia is the only college lacrosse program to produce a first round draft pick in each of the first five Premier Lacrosse League Drafts. 

Three picks later, another Wahoo came off the board as redshirt senior attackman Xander Dickson was selected by the Atlas. Dickson is currently the ACC leader and the country's third-leading scorer at 4.0 goals per game and he needs just one more goal to surpass Doug Knight (56 in 1996) for most goals in a single season at Virginia. 

Dickson will also be playing alongside a former Cavalier in Dox Aitken, who selected by the Atlas with the eighth overall pick in the 2021 PLL College Draft. 

Finally, graduate faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla was selected with the 14th pick in the second round by the Whipsnakes. LaSalla, who was also selected in the 2022 NLL Draft, holds the UVA program records for single-season and career faceoff wins and ground balls and has the all-time NCAA record for career faceoffs taken with 1,693. One of the best scoring faceoff men in the sport over the past few seasons, LaSalla has 48 career points on 37 goals and 11 assists in his five-year career at Virginia. 

Like McConvey and Dickson, LaSalla will also be joining a roster with a Virginia alum on it, as the Whipsnakes' attack unit features 2020 PLL MVP and 2021 PLL All-Star Zed Williams, who graduated from UVA in 2017. 

With McConvey, Dickson, and LaSalla on their way to the professional ranks as soon as their run with Virginia in the 2023 NCAA Tournament is done, there will be 12 former UVA men's lacrosse players in the Premier Lacrosse League: 

Archers: Matt Moore, Jared Conners
Atlas: Dox Aitken, Xander Dickson
Cannons: Mark Cockerton, Adam Ghitelman
Redwoods: Charlie Bertrand, Chris Merle
Waterdogs: Ryan Conrad, Thomas McConvey
Whipsnakes: Zed Williams, Petey LaSalla

The 2023 Premier Lacrosse League season begins on the weekend of June 3rd and 4th at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium in Albany, New York. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.