Cavaliers Now

Shellenberger Named Most Outstanding Attackman & USILA First-Team All-American

Matt Newton

Connor Shellenberger and Payton Cormier lead Virginia men's lacrosse onto the field against Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Tournament.
Connor Shellenberger and Payton Cormier lead Virginia men's lacrosse onto the field against Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Tournament. / Virginia Athletics

Fresh off of scoring an epic double-overtime game-winning goal to keep the Virginia men's lacrosse season alive last weekend in the NCAA quarterfinals, Connor Shellenberger has been named the Most Outstanding Attackman in college lacrosse and a First-Team All-American for the fourth-consecutive season.

The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) announced its season awards and Division I All-Americans on Thursday and six Cavaliers were included in those accolades.

Connor Shellenberger was named the Lt. Col. JI Turnbull Outstanding Attackman and was selected to the USILA All-American First Team, becoming the first four-time USILA First-Team All-American in program history. Now the school's all-time leader in assists and points, Shellenberger leads the ACC in assists and is third nationally in that category. He is also the first Cavalier to be a three-time Tewaaraton Finalist and was the No. 2 overall pick in the Premier Lacrosse League College Draft to the New York Atlas.

Senior defenseman Cole Kastner was named a USILA Second-Team All-American for the second time in his career (2022) and is currently the nation's leader in caused turnovers at 1.76 takeaways per game. In addition to being the team's best close defenseman, Kastner also leads UVA's 10-man ride that led the ACC in opponent clearing percentage this season. Kastner was selected by the California Redwoods with the final pick of the PLL Draft, though he is planning to play basketball at Stanford next season before beginning his professional lacrosse career.

Joining Kastner on the Second Team is Harvard graduate transfer Chase Yager, one of the top short-stick defensive midfielders in the country. Yager has caused 26 turnovers this season, second only to Kastner on the team. He had three ground balls and three caused turnovers last weekend against Johns Hopkins, including the pivotal turnover in double-overtime that produced the possession in which Shellenberger scored the game-winner.

Payton Cormier earned his fourth USILA All-American nod, though this time as a Third-Team selection after previously earning three honorable mentions. He leads the country in goals scored with 64 and became the NCAA's all-time leading goal scorer in an eight-goal performance against St. Joe's in the first round, which also allowed him to break UVA's single-season scoring record.

Griffin Schutz picked up his first-career USILA All-American selection, joining Cormier on the Third Team. The junior leads all Cavalier midfielders with 23 goals this season and has registered a point in all but one of UVA's games this season. He had six points on four goals and two assists Virginia's win at Maryland back on March 16th.

After taking the 2023 season away from the team, junior LSM Ben Wayer makes his USILA All-America debut as an honorable mention. Wayer leads the nation with 92 groundballs (excluding faceoff specialists), the most ground balls ever recorded by a Cavalier LSM and most by any non-faceoff specialist at UVA since Ryan Conrad in 2019. In Virginia's win over Johns Hopkins on Sunday, Wayer posted 10 ground balls and two caused turnovers. Wayer has recorded seven goals and six assists as one of the top offensive LSMs in the country.

No. 6 seed Virginia (12-5) will make its fourth appearance in the Final Four this weekend, taking on No. 7 seed Maryland (10-5) in the semifinals of the 2024 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship on Saturday at approximately 2:30pm (ESPN2) at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

See the full list of 2024 USILA Division I All-Americans and award winners here.

Published
Matt Newton

MATT NEWTON

Managing Editor and Publisher, CavaliersNow Email: mattnewton@virginia.eduTwitter: @mattynewtssWebsite | LinkedIn | Instagram Matt Newton is the managing editor and publisher at CavaliersNow. He has been covering UVA athletics since 2019 and has been the managing editor at CavaliersNow since launching the site in August 2021. Matt covers all things UVA sports, including Virginia basketball and football news and recruiting, former Wahoos in the pros, and coverage of all 23 of the NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. A native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Matt grew up a huge Philadelphia sports fan, but has also been a UVA sports fanatic his entire life thanks to his parents, who are alums of the University of Virginia. Matt followed in his parents' footsteps and attended UVA from 2017-2021, graduating with a degree in Media Studies and a minor in Economics in May of 2021.