Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Landis, Perkovic Pace Notre Dame on USILA All-America Squad

May 28, 2016

Five University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse players today earned United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA)/Nike All-America honors, headlined by repeat first-team selections Matt Landis (Sr./D) and Sergio Perkovic (Jr./M).

Matt Kavanagh (Sr./A) and John Sexton (So./LSM) made the second team, and Shane Doss (Jr./G) merited third-team recognition. Kavanagh earned All-America honors for the fourth consecutive year (the first Irish player in history to do so) after copping first-team honors in 2015, second-team accolades in 2014 and honorable mention recognition in 2013. Landis and Perkovic both earned first-team honors for the second consecutive season. Sexton and Doss both were honorable mention picks in 2015.

This marks the 12th consecutive season Notre Dame has produced multiple USILA All-America selections. In 28 seasons under head coach Kevin Corrigan, the Irish have had 40 different players earn 75 All-America citations. The two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Landis (Pelham, New York/Pelham Memorial) anchored a Notre Dame defense that ranks seventh nationally in scoring defense (8.0 goals allowed) and seventh in caused turnovers (8.47 per game). The 2015 USILA top individual defensive player and a two-time All-ACC choice, Landis started all 15 games in 2016, collected 34 ground balls and led the Irish with 19 caused turnovers. He’s one of five finalists for the 2016 Tewaaraton Award (presented by Under Armour) as the top individual player in the nation-and he also received an honorary postgraduate scholarship from the ACC. Landis was the third overall pick in the 2016 Major League Lacrosse Draft by Florida.

The hard-shooting Perkovic (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan/Brother Rice) qualified as Notre Dame’s top scoring midfielder with 26 goals and four assists (30 points) in 2016. A starter in all 48 games during his career, the two-time first-team all-ACC selection had six hat tricks this season, three of those with four goals. Twenty of his career goals have come in NCAA play. He was a three-time ACC Player of the Week on offense, including when his overtime goal accounted for a victory over Virginia. Kavanagh (Rockville Centre, New York/Chaminade/Hotchkiss) led the 2016 Irish in scoring with 50 points and a team-leading 29 assists. The three-time all-ACC pick stands second on the Notre Dame career scoring list with 225 points (122 goals and 103 assists, both totals ranking third on Notre Dame’s career charts). Kavanagh registered at least three points in 10 of the 14 contests in which he played in 2016. A Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2015, he notched at least six points in two games this season and 13 times during his career. Kavanagh was the fifth overall pick in the 2016 MLL Draft by Denver.

Landis, Perkovic and Kavanagh all qualified among the 25 Tewaaraton Award nominees for 2016.

Sexton (Sudbury, Massachusetts/Lincoln-Sudbury) finished second on the 2016 Irish statistics sheet in both ground balls (44) and caused turnovers (18). He also scored three goals while excelling with his wing play on face-offs-and claimed ACC Player of the Week honors on defense after Notre Dame’s regular-season win over Duke. Doss (Glen Ridge, New Jersey/Glen Ridge) ranked among NCAA leaders in goals-against average (7.67) and save percentage (.562) while starting in goal throughout the 2016 campaign. He was a three-time ACC Player of the Week on defense in 2016 after Irish wins over Georgetown (14 saves), Virginia (14 saves) and Army (three goals allowed)-and the effort versus Georgetown eared him USILA National Defensive Player of the Week notice. Notre Dame finished 11-4 in 2016, with a share of the ACC regular-season title and a number-three seed in the NCAA Championship bracket.

–by John Heisler, senior associate athletics director