Cavaliers Now

Virginia Lacrosse Places Eight on USILA All-America Teams

Eight Cavaliers were named All-Americans by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association

Matt Newton

A total of eight Virginia men's lacrosse players were recognized as All-Americans by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) on Thursday. Connor Shellenberger was named to the First Team, Cole Kastner made the Second Team, Matt Moore and Petey LaSalla were named to the Third Team, and Payton Cormier, Jeff Conner, Cade Saustad, and Grayson Sallade were honorable mentions. 

For the second season in a row, Connor Shellenberger was named a USILA First-Team All-American after leading the team in both points (76) and assists (44) and recording 32 goals. Shellenberger is also one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Award, which will be announced at the end of the season. 

Cole Kastner was named to the USILA All-American Second Team after finishing the season with 32 caused turnovers at a rate of 2.00 caused turnovers per game, sixth-most in the country. Kastner also became the first Cavalier to win ACC Defensive Player of the Year. 

Matt Moore and Petey LaSalla were UVA's representatives on the USILA All-American Third Team. Moore concluded his five-year Virginia career as the program's all-time leader in career points with 277 points on 143 goals and 134 assists. He is also third all-time at UVA with 43 career points in NCAA Tournament games. 

LaSalla is now UVA's program leader in career faceoff wins with 781 as well as ground balls with 390. He went .597 from the faceoff x this season, eighth-best in the country, and also recorded eight goals and two assists. 

Virginia had four players receive an honorable mention. 

Payton Cormier led the Cavaliers in scoring for the second-consecutive season with 50 goals. He had nine hat tricks this season and scored six goals in a victory against Johns Hopkins.  

As a true two-way midfielder, Jeff Conner was pivotal for Virginia's success late in the season. He recorded 14 goals and 18 assists for a total of 32 points. Seven of those points came in Virginia's victory at Syracuse, as Conner registered four goals and three assists to help UVA lock up the ACC Championship. 

Cade Saustad and Grayson Sallade were both captains, alongside Matt Moore, and were both key parts of Virginia's defense this season. Saustad finished the season with 27 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers while Sallade had 29 ground balls and eight caused turnovers from the short-stick defensive midfield position. 

With the exception of Matt Moore, seven of these eight USILA All-Americans will return to Virginia next season. 

See more Virginia men's lacrosse news and content: Virginia Men's Lacrosse on Sports Illustrated

See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated

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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.

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