June 24, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Atlantic Coast Conference champion University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse program placed six student-athletes on the 2014 All-ACC Academic Men’s Lacrosse Team. Seniors Westy Hopkins (A), Jim Marlatt (M), Liam O’Connor (M/FO), Stephen O’Hara (D) and John Scioscia (A) along with freshman Sergio Perkovic (M) garnered the honor.
Notre Dame’s six honorees were the second-most for any of the league’s six teams. Duke led the way with seven selections, while North Carolina, Syracuse and Virginia all had five members and Maryland had four. Duke’s Jordan Wolf was tapped as the 2014 ACC Men’s Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
To be eligible for consideration for the All-ACC Academic Team, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.0 grade-point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.0 cumulative average during his academic career.
Hopkins (Newtown, Pa.) played in all 18 games this season, including five starts in the attack, and tallied eight goals. He deposited a season-high two goals in the 14-13 overtime win over Albany in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. Hopkins tied a program record by competing in 64 career games.
Marlatt (Clarksville, Md.) was on Notre Dame’s first midfield line all season and he compiled 13 goals and nine assists. The Irish co-captain posted two hat tricks, including a four-point effort (3g, 1a) in the 15-14 besting of Syracuse in the title game of the ACC Championship.
O’Connor (Haverford, Pa.) finished the season ranked 17th nationally in faceoff winning percentage (.580). He tallied three goals and dished out six assists in addition to picking up a team-high 124 ground balls. Arguably his top performance of the campaign occurred in the 18-9 win over No. 7 Virginia as he won 19-of-24 faceoff attempts and notched a goal and an assist. That display helped him land a spot on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List.
O’Hara (West Chester, Pa.) was named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) All-America First Team in addition to being on the All-ACC Team and the All-ACC Tournament Team. He anchored Notre Dame’s close defense, causing 21 turnovers and picking up 32 ground balls. O’Hara, a starter in every game over the last three seasons, appeared on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List and was a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award. The Notre Dame co-captain recently was selected as a USILA Scholar All-American.
Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) tallied 30 goals and four assists during a stellar senior campaign in which he played in all 18 contests, including 13 starts. He registered eight multiple-goal games, highlighted by a six-goal, two-assist performance in the 18-17 win over Army. In the following contest, he deposited four goals in a 13-5 victory over Harvard in the first round of the NCAA Championship.
Perkovic (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) had a breakout rookie season as he recorded 28 goals and five assists from the team’s first midfield line. The 28 goals were the most-ever for a freshman midfielder at Notre Dame. Perkovic scored a season-high five goals in the 11-9 setback to Duke in the national title game. He earned a spot on the NCAA All-Tournament Team for his effort against the Blue Devils, which was one of his nine multiple-goal games on the season.
The Fighting Irish concluded the campaign with a 12-6 record and they appeared in the NCAA Championship for the ninth straight season. Notre Dame advanced to Championship Weekend for the third time in the last five seasons and for the fourth time overall in program history.
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The University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team pursues excellence on and off the field through the three pillars in which the program is built: Character, Culture & Community. These three foundational values guide the promise of the program, which is to provide its student-athletes with the most compelling and enriching experience in all of college athletics. Through academics, competition, service and travel, the program aims to immerse its players in situations that enhance their student-athlete experience to help them become the people, students and teammates they aspire to be.
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