Virginia Places Eight on Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-America Teams

Eight Cavaliers were named preseason All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse, led by unanimous First-Team All-American Connor Shellenberger

Inside Lacrosse released its Preseason All-American selections for the 2023 college lacrosse season on Wednesday and Virginia led all schools with eight Preseason All-Americans. No other team had more than six selections. 

Virginia junior attackman Connor Shellenberger was one of three players named a unanimous preseason First-Team All-American along with Penn's Sam Handley and Georgetown's Will Bowen. Shellenberger, who was a Tewaaraton finalist in 2022, is joined on the First-Team Attack unit by Yale's Matt Brandau and Cornell's CJ Kirst. 

UVA had two selections to Inside Lacrosse's Preseason All-American Second-Team. Reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year Cole Kastner was a Second-Team selection, as was graduate midfielder Thomas McConvey, a Vermont transfer who was the America East Offensive Player of the Year in 2022 after tallying 60 goals and 14 assists for the Catamounts last season. 

Senior attackman Payton Cormier was selected to the preseason Third-Team by Inside Lacrosse after tallying 60 points on 50 goals and ten assists last season. 

Virginia also had four players tabbed as preseason All-American honorable mentions: graduate midfielder Jeff Conner, graduate faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla, graduate short-stick defensive midfielder Grayson Sallade, and redshirt senior defenseman Cade Saustad. 

Virginia was selected as the preseason No. 1-ranked team in the country in the Inside Lacrosse Preseason Media Poll, which was released on Monday. The Cavaliers received 14 of the 26 first-place votes. 

See the full list of preseason All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse below:

2023 Inside Lacrosse Preseason Men's Division All-Americans

First Team

A-Connor Shellenberger, Virginia
A-Matt Brandau, Yale
A-CJ Kirst, Cornell
M-Sam Handley, Penn
M-Graham Bundy Jr., Georgetown
M-Matt Campbell, Villanova
FO-Luke Wierman, Maryland
SSDM-Payton Rezanka, Loyola
SSDM-Connor Maher, North Carolina
LSM-Roy Meyer, Boston U.
D-Will Bowen, Georgetown
D-Gavin Adler, Cornell
D-Brett Makar, Maryland
G-Liam Entenmann, Notre Dame

Second Team

A-Brennan O'Neill, Duke
A-Pat Kavanagh, Notre Dame
A-Jack Myers, Ohio State
M-Kyle Long, Maryland
M- Jake Stevens, Princeton
M-Thomas McConvey, Virginia
FO-Zach Cole, Saint Joseph
SSDM-Piper Bond, Penn
SSDM-Beau Pederson, Princeton
LSM-Ethan Rall, Rutgers
D-Owen Grant, Delaware
D-Ajax Zappitello, Maryland
D-Cole Kastner, Virginia
G-Logan McNaney, Maryland

Third Team

A-Ross Scott, Rutgers
A-Tucker Dordevic, Georgetown
A-Payton Cormier, Virginia
M-Sam English, Princeton
M-Patrick Skalniak, Navy
M-Shane Knobloch, Rutgers
FO-Mike Sisselberger, Lehigh
SSDM-Chet Comizio, Villanova
SSDM-Trevor Yeboah-Kodie, Brown
LSM-Tyler Carpenter, Duke
D-Chris Fake, Notre Dame
D-Jackson Bonitz, Navy
D-Kenny Brower, Duke
G-Connor Theriault, Brown

Honorable Mention

A-Levi Anderson, Saint Joseph's
A-Vince D'Alto, Boston U.
A-Dylan Gergar, Penn
A-Owen Hiltz, Syracuse
A-Devon McLane, Brown
A-Mike Robinson, Delaware
A-Alex Slusher, Princeton
A-Max Waldbaum, Jacksonville
A-Dylan Watson, Jacksonville
A-Josh Zawada, Michigan
M-Aiden Blake, Cornell
M-Jeff Conner, Virginia
M-Eric Dobson, Notre Dame
M-Hugh Kelleher, Cornell
M-Andrew McAdorey, Duke
M-Declan McDermott, Georgetown
M-Brian Tevlin, Notre Dame
FO-Petey LaSalla, Virginia
FO-James Reilly, Georgetown
SSDM-Connor Cmiel, Ohio State
SSDM-Cole Daninger, Jacksonville
SSDM-Grayson Sallade, Virginia
SSDM-Chase Yager, Harvard
LSM-Greg Campisi, Harvard
LSM-BJ Farrare, Penn
LSM-John Geppert, Maryland
D-Marcus Hudgins, Ohio State
D-Brendan Lavelle, Penn
D-Cade Saustad, Virginia
D-Bobby Van Buren, Ohio State
D-Cam Wyers, Loyola
G-Matt Garber, Boston U.
G-Will Mark, Syracuse
G-Jared Paquette, Yale

Virginia will begin the 2023 men's lacrosse season on Saturday, February 11th at 12pm when the Cavaliers host Michigan at Klockner Stadium. 

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