May 3, 2016
The Atlantic Coast Conference Tuesday honored two University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse standouts-senior defenseman Matt Landis and rookie attackman Ryder Garnsey-with a pair of its major awards.
Landis’ stellar defensive play won him his second straight year ACC Defensive Player of the Year award. The Irish captain also in 2015 was named the top defensive player nationally by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. The conference named Garnsey the 2016 ACC Freshman of the Year.
Two other major awards were handed out as well, with Myles Jones of Duke named ACC Offensive Player of the Year and Syracuse’s John Desko, who led his squad to the 2016 conference tournament crown, selected as ACC Coach of the Year. The league’s five head coaches voted for all four awards. Landis (Pelham, New York) helped the Irish capture a share of the ACC regular-season crown en route to its current 9-3 record and No. 6 ranking (USILA). An ACC Defensive Player of the Week honoree this season after Notre Dame’s victory over Maryland, he also is among 25 nominees (along with teammates Matt Kavanagh and Sergio Perkovic) for the 2016 Tewaaraton Award, presented by Under Armour. Landis has led a Fighting Irish defensive unit that has yielded just 7.75 goals per game this year to rank seventh nationally. He has started all 12 contests, collected 27 ground balls and caused a team-leading 15 turnovers. He also is a CoSIDA Academic All-America nominee.
Garnsey (Wolfeboro, New Hampshire) rates third on the Irish goal-scoring list in 2016 with 19-as well as second in assists (eight) and fourth in scoring (27 points). He stands 19th nationally (and fourth in the ACC) in shooting percentage at .422. He led all ACC freshmen this year in scoring, contributing five goals in Notre Dame’s win at Syracuse and three in the Irish ACC Championship semifinal match against Duke.
In 2016 Landis and Garnsey have combined to help Notre Dame rank first in nine different weeks in one or more of the three major polls (USILA, Inside Lacrosse, Lacrosse magazine).
The Irish close their regular season with a noon home game Sunday at Arlotta Stadium against Army.
University of Notre Dame Athletics Communications contact:
John Heisler
Senior Associate Athletics Director
112 Joyce Center
Notre Dame, IN 46556
574-631-7516 (office)
574-532-0293 (cell)
heisler.1@nd.edu
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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