Desko, Rice Win ACC Men's Lacrosse Awards

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Syracuse University captured two awards when the Atlantic Coast Conference announced its 2015 men's lacrosse individual award winners on Tuesday, April 28. Orange head coach John Desko was named the ACC Coach of the Year and senior attackman Kevin Rice was voted the ACC Offensive Player of the Year.

The awards are the first ACC individual men's lacrosse honors for Syracuse, which joined the conference in 2014.

Desko guided Syracuse to its first ACC championship title over the weekend. The Orange defeated North Carolina in the semifinals then topped Duke, 15-14, two days later to win the league crown. The top-ranked Orange holds an 11-2 overall record and is 8-2 against ranked opponents.

The Orange leads the conference in several statistical categories, including goals per game (14.92), shooting percentage (.348), man-down defense (.725) and faceoff percentage (.647).

For Desko, it is his second conference coach of the year honor. The veteran mentor was named the BIG EAST Coach of the Year in 2011.

The 2015 ACC Championship MVP, Rice leads the conference in points per game (4.85), assists per game (2.77) and game-winning goals (5). He has 27 goals and 36 assists on the season for a team-best 63 points. The Tewaaraton Award nominee has recorded six five-point games this year, and he had seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) versus Duke in Sunday's ACC title game. Rice ranks 16th in Orange history with 201 points (87 goals, 114 assists) and he is eighth on the school's career assists list.

Notre Dame and Duke took home the league's other two major awards. Irish close defenseman Matt Landis was tabbed the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Duke rookie attackman Justin Guterding was named the ACC Rookie of the Year.

The conference's individual awards were decided in a vote of the league's five head coaches who were not permitted to vote for their own players.

Syracuse plays Colgate in its regular-season finale on Saturday, May 2. Faceoff between the Orange and Raiders is slated for 3:30 p.m. at Andy Kerr Stadium.

2015 ACC Men's Lacrosse Individual Awards
Offensive Player of the Year: Kevin Rice, Sr., A, Syracuse
Defensive Player of the Year: Matt Landis, Jr., D, Notre Dame
Freshman of the Year: Justin Guterding, Fr., A, Duke
Coach of the Year: John Desko, Syracuse

Syracuse University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kevin Rice

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