With regular season play completed on Sunday, the bracket for the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Championship is set. The three-day event, which begins on Thursday, May 8 and concludes on Saturday, May 10, will be hosted by Maryland, with all games being played at Maryland Softball Stadium.
Last year’s ACC Champion, NC State (34-15, 16-8) will play North Carolina (23-25, 14-11) in the Championship’s second game that is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start on Thursday. During the regular season, the Wolfpack nabbed two of three games from the Tar Heels.
The top eight teams based on win percentage in ACC games from regular season play will participate in the Championship.
Florida State (47-6, 24-3) grabbed the Championship’s top seed and is No. 4 in the latest USA Today/NFCA poll. The Seminoles will play Georgia Tech (23-23, 11-17) in the first game of the Championship on Thursday at 11 a.m.
Notre Dame (36-10, 15-5), the second seed, will take on Boston College (30-22, 12-14) at 5 p.m. on Thursday. The Fighting Irish, ranked 21st in the latest USA Today/NFCA poll, and the Eagles closed out the regular season versus each other, with Notre Dame earning a three-game sweep.
Third-seeded Virginia Tech (34-20, 19-9) will square off against sixth-seeded Syracuse (24-24, 12-12), which is competing in its first ACC Softball Championship, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. In regular season action, the Hokies and the Orange split a mid-week series.
Fans unable to attend the event can watch the action as all seven games will be televised. Thursday’s and Friday’s games will be split between the league’s regional sports network and ESPN3, and the championship game on Saturday will be on ESPN2. Live statistics will be available throughout the event on the championship website, http://theacc.co/SBchamp.
Brayden Schnur.North Carolina’s Brayden Schnur was named ACC Freshman of the Year, while Tar Heels head coach Sam Paul was named ACC Coach of the Year for the sixth time in his career.
Individual honors, as well as the All-ACC teams, were determined by a vote of the league’s 12 head coaches.
Virginia’s Alex Domijan is the fourth Cavalier student-athlete to be named ACC Player of the Year.
North Carolina’s Schnur joins the likes of Paul Harsanyi (1994), Bjorn Rencken (1999) and Chris Kearney (2007) as Tar Heel student-athletes that have captured Freshman of the Year honors.
Paul moved into a tie for first all-time for most ACC Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year honors with Chuck Kriese (Clemson), Jay Lapidus (Duke) and Brian Boland (Virginia).
Eleven ACC institutions had representatives on the All-ACC team, led by five honorees from Virginia. Duke had four representatives, while North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest each had three members. Clemson, Florida State and NC State had two honorees apiece, while Georgia Tech and Miami rounded out the field with one representative each.
Virginia’s Domijan was the lone four-time selection on the All-ACC Team, with the Cavaliers’ Mitchell Frank earning All-ACC honors for the third time in his career. Nine members earned All-ACC recognition for a second time.
All-ACC First Team
Mitchell Frank # Jr. Virginia
Greg Andrews Sr. Notre Dame
Alex Domijan % Sr. Virginia
Brayden Schnur Fr. North Carolina
Amerigo Contini @ So. Virginia Tech
Jason Tahir Jr. Duke
Ronnie Schneider Fr. North Carolina
Romain Bogaerts* So. Wake Forest
Hunter Harrington*@ Jr. Clemson
Fred Saba*@ Sr. Duke
All-ACC Second Team
Dominique Maden Sr. Clemson
Ryan Shane So. Virginia
Austin Powell @ Jr. NC State
Dominic Cotrone @ Jr. Florida State
Brett Clark So. North Carolina
Omar Aly Sr. Miami
Andreas Bjerrehus @ So. Virginia Tech
Nathan Rakitt So. Georgia Tech
Robbie Mudge @ Jr. NC State
All-ACC Third Team
Quentin Monaghan So. Notre Dame
Mac Styslinger @ So. Virginia
Adam Lee @ Sr. Wake Forest
Bruno Semenzato So. Duke
Joao Monteiro So. Virginia Tech
Raphael Hemmeler Jr. Duke
Thai-Son Kwiatkowski Fr. Virginia
Cristian Gonzalez Mendez Jr. Florida State
Maksim Kan* Fr. Wake Forest
Ryan Bandy* Sr. Notre Dame
* – Denotes a tie in voting
@ – Two-time selection
# – Three-time selection
% – Four-time selection
Duke’s Jordan Wolf.Eleven student-athletes, including two each from Duke and North Carolina, on the Tewaaraton Award watch list highlight this year’s All-Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Lacrosse Team, as announced today by the conference office.
Maryland, the No. 1 seed for this week’s 2014 ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship, leads all schools with five selections to the All-ACC team. Duke, which shared the regular-season title with the Terrapins, joins North Carolina with four members on the squad.
Duke placed Deemer Class, Brendan Fowler, Myles Jones and Jordan Wolf on the squad. North Carolina’s selections are Jimmy Bitter, Ryan Creighton, Joey Sankey and Chad Tutton.
Notre Dame and Syracuse each have two All-ACC members, and Virginia one.
Niko Amato, Mike Chanenchuk, Mike Ehrhardt, Goran Murray and Charlie Raffa represent Maryland.
Matt Kavanagh and Steve O’Hara are Notre Dame’s first-ever All-ACC selections, while Brandon Mullins and Kevin Rice are the first to be named from Syracuse. Mark Cockerton represents Virginia on this year’s All-ACC team.
Five members of the All-ACC teams are multi-year honorees as Duke’s Wolf and Maryland’s Amato collected All-ACC honors for the fourth times of their careers, joining only five other former ACC greats as four-time selections – NC State’s Stan Cockerton (1977-80), Maryland’s Pete Worstell (1977-78, 1980-81) and Virginia’s Scott Gerham (1981-84), Roddy Marino (1983-86) and Michael Watson (1994-97). Duke’s Fowler, North Carolina’s Sankey and Virginia’s Cockerton are repeat honorees having earned All-ACC honors in 2013.
Duke’s Wolf (3.29) and Virginia’s Cockerton (2.93) rank 1-2 among conference players and in goals per game. Wolf ranks third nationally, while Cockerton stands eighth. Wolf(4.79) and Syracuse’s Rice (4.5) lead the ACC in overall scoring and rank a respective fifth and sixth among all NCAA Division I players.
Rice leads the ACC and is tied for sixth nationally with 2.33 assists per match, followed by Notre Dame’s Kavanaugh at 2.0 per contest.
Maryland’s Amato has been solid in the net again this season, ranking fifth nationally while allowing a conference-low 7.38 goals per game. Duke’s Fowler (9.5) stands fifth nationally in ground balls per game, and Maryland’s Raffa (8.3) ranks second to Fowler among ACC players. Raffa’s .663 faceoff winning percentage leads the ACC and ranks third nationally.
The All-ACC team was determined by a vote of the league’s six head coaches who could not vote for their own players.
The 2014 ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship gets under way with two semifinal games Friday at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. Second-seeded Duke faces No. 3 Syracuse at 5 p.m., followed by No. 4 Notre Dame vs. No. 1 Maryland at 7:30 p.m. An “ACC Showcase Game” between North Carolina and Virginia will be played Saturday night at 7:30, followed by Sunday’s 1 p.m. title game between Friday evening’s winners.
ESPNU will televise the Friday evening semifinals and Sunday’s championship game, while ESPN3 will show the “ACC Showcase” on Saturday.
Individual awards, including Offensive Player, Defensive Player, Coach and Freshman of the Year, will be voted on by the league’s head coaches following the ACC Championship.
2014 All-ACC Men’s Lacrosse Team
Deemer Class, So., M, Duke
Brendan Fowler, Sr., M, Duke !*
Myles Jones, So., M, Duke
Jordan Wolf, Sr., A, Duke %*
Niko Amato, Sr., G, Maryland %*
Mike Chanenchuk, Sr., M, Maryland *
Mike Ehrhardt, Sr., D, Maryland *
Goran Murray, Jr., D, Maryland
Charlie Raffa, Jr., M, Maryland
Jimmy Bitter, Jr., A, North Carolina
Ryan Creighton, Sr., M, North Carolina
Joey Sankey, Jr., A, North Carolina !*
Chad Tutton, Jr., M, North Carolina *
Matt Kavanagh, So., A, Notre Dame*
Steve O’Hara, Sr., D, Notre Dame *
Brandon Mullins, R-So., D, Syracuse
Kevin Rice, Jr., A, Syracuse *
Mark Cockerton, Sr., A, Virginia !*
% Four-time All-ACC Team selection
! Two-time All-ACC Team selection
* 2014 Tewaaraton Award Candidates
In opening round play of the 2014 ACC Women’s Tennis Championship held at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, No. 11 Virginia Tech defeated No. 14 NC State. Wake Forest and Boston College also earned a spot in the second round of the Championship.
No. 11 Virginia Tech 4, No. 14 NC State 3
The Hokies and the Wolfpack battled back and forth in a match that lasted more than four hours before the Virginia Tech finally won 4-3.
After falling behind 1-0 after doubles play, Virginia Tech rallied and grabbed victories in four singles matches.
The Hokies’ Raluca Mita earned the clinching victory of the match, defeating Nicole Martinez, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.
UNC’s Abbey Friend.An eye-opening 20 Tewaaraton Award candidates, including five from UNC and four from Duke, highlight the 2014 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Lacrosse Team announced on Wednesday.
Maryland, the conference regular-season co-champion and the No. 1 seed for this week’s ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship, leads with four student-athletes voted to the first team and five selections overall in balloting by the league’s eight head coaches. North Carolina also has five total selections, while ACC regular-season co-champion Syracuse and Duke follow with four apiece. All eight of the ACC women’s lacrosse teams placed at least one player on the squad.
The first team includes the ACC’s top two overall scorers in Syracuse’s Kayla Treanor (5.31 points per game) and the top two goal scorers in Treanor (3.62) and North Carolina’s Abbey Friend (3.31). Nine of the ACC’s top 10 overall scorers and nine of the top 10 goal scorers were voted to either the first or second team.
Defensively, the first team features Virginia goalkeeper Liz Colgan, whose 10 saves per game leads the conference and ranks sixth nationally. Second-team selection Margaret Smith of Notre Dame ranks sixth nationally with 2.19 turnovers caused per game.
The All-ACC First and Second Teams include a number of other national statistics leaders. Treanor ranks fifth among NCAA Division I players in goals scored, and Friend is ninth. Treanor ranks second nationally in total points scored, while second-team selections Kerrin Maurer of Duke (4.8) and Covie Stanwick of Boston College (4.6) rank sixth and seventh respectively.
Nine members of the All-ACC teams are multi-year honorees as Boston College’s Rix and Stanwick and North Carolina’s Friend and Serpe collected All-ACC honors for the third time in their careers, while Duke’s Virden, Trimble and Maurer, and Maryland’s Cummings and Griffin are repeat honorees having earned All-ACC honors in 2013.
The 2014 ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship gets underway at Boston College’s Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Thursday. Quarterfinal matches find No. 1 Maryland against No. 8 Virginia Tech at 11 a.m., followed by No. 4 Duke versus No. 5 Virginia at 1 p.m. Syracuse, the No. 2 seed, meets No. 7 Notre Dame at 3 p.m. The quarterfinal session closes with No. 3 North Carolina versus No. 6 Boston College at 5 p.m.
Semifinal matches are set for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday, and the title game for Sunday at 1 p.m. All games will be telecast by the ACC’s Regional Sports Network, with the exception of Thursday’s 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. quarterfinal matches. Those will streamed live by the ACC Digital Network.
For more information on the ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship, please see http://theacc.co/WLAXchamp. For a tournament bracket, please see http://theacc.co/WLAX14bracket,
The 2014 All-ACC Women’s Lacrosse Team:
First Team All-ACC
Abbey Friend, Sr., A, North Carolina %^
Alyssa Murray, Sr., A, Syracuse ^
Kayla Treanor, So., A, Syracuse ^
Taylor Cummings, So., M, Maryland ! ^
Beth Glaros, Sr., M, Maryland
Kelly McPartland, Jr., M, Maryland ^
Mikaela Rix, Jr, M, Boston College %^
Taylor Trimble, Jr., M, Duke ! ^
Megan Douty, Jr., D, Maryland ^
Sloane Serpe, Sr., D, North Carolina % ^
Taylor Virden, Sr., D, Duke !^
Liz Colgan, Sr., G, Virginia
Caylee Waters, Fr., G, North Carolina
*due to a tie in voting an extra member was added to the team
Second Team All-ACC
Brooke Griffin, R-Jr., A, Maryland !^
Kerrin Maurer, Jr., A, Duke !^
Covie Stanwick, Jr, A, Boston College %^
Courtney Swan, Jr., A, Virginia ^
Megan Will, Jr., A, Virginia Tech
Sarah Mannelly, So., M, Boston College ^
Aly Messinger, So., A, North Carolina ^
Maddy Morrissey, Sr., M, Duke
Katie Webster, So, M, Syracuse ^
Kasey Mock, Sr., D, Syracuse ^
Margaret Smith, Sr., D, Notre Dame ^
Morgan Stephens, Jr., D, Virginia ^
Megan Ward, So., G, North Carolina
*due to a tie in voting an extra member was added to the team
^ – Tewaaraton Award candidates
% Three-time All-ACC Team selection
! Two-time All-ACC Team selection
Jamie Loeb.North Carolina freshman Jamie Loeb has been selected the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Year and leads the 2014 All-ACC Team as announced by Commissioner John Swofford.
In addition to Loeb, the Tar Heels’ Haley Carter also took home one of the league’s top honors, as she was named Freshman of the Year. Clemson’s Nancy Harris was named the ACC Coach of the Year for the first time in her career.
Individual honors, as well as the All-ACC teams, were determined by a vote of the league’s 15 head coaches.
Loeb, a native of Ossining, N.Y., is just the third North Carolina student-athlete to earn Player of the Year honors, while Carter is the first Tar Heel to earn Freshman of the Year honors.
Harris, who led the Tigers to a share of the ACC regular season title for the first time since 2007, becomes the second Clemson head coach to earn Coach of the Year honors, joining Andy Johnston who won the award four times – most recently in 1993 – during his time with the Tigers.
Thirteen ACC institutions had representatives on the All-ACC team, led by Virginia with four representatives. North Carolina, Duke, Miami and Clemson had three representatives apiece. Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech each posted two honorees on the teams, while Boston College, Maryland, NC State, Notre Dame and Syracuse rounded out the list with one representative apiece.
Duke’s Ester Goldfeld and Hanna Mar, along with NC State’s Joelle Kissell, were All-ACC selections for the third time in their career. A total of nine student-athletes collected All-ACC honors for the second time in their career.
Individual Award Winners
Player of the Year – Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
Freshman of the Year – Haley Carter, North Carolina
Coach of the Year – Nancy Harris, Clemson
All-ACC First Team
Jamie Loeb Fr. North Carolina
Julia Elbaba @ So. Virginia
Beatrice Capra @ So. Duke
Hayley Carter Fr. North Carolina
Stephanie Wagner @ So. Miami
Ester Goldfeld # Jr. Duke
Kendal Woodard @ So. Georgia Tech
Hanna Mar # Sr. Duke
Danielle Collins So. Virginia
All-ACC Second Team
Joelle Kissell # Sr. NC State
Caroline Price @ Jr. North Carolina
Kelsey Laurente So. Miami
Megan Kurey So. Georgia Tech
Kerrie Cartwright Jr. Florida State
Jessica Wacnik Jr. Boston College
Yana Koroleva @ Sr. Clemson
Maddie Kobelt Sr. Syracuse
Stephanie Nauta @ So. Virginia
Zach Houchins had four hits and Ryan Williams worked the final 4.2 innings out of the bullpen as East Carolina hung on for a 3-2 win over visiting North Carolina Tuesday evening at Clark-LeClair Stadium. Landon Lassiter homered for the Tar Heels, who dropped to 23-18 on the year and will host No. 30 Liberty Wednesday at 6 in Chapel Hill.
For the sixth game in a row, Carolina fell behind early and had to try to come from behind. Tuesday it was a wild pitch from UNC starter Taylore Cherry (0-1) that scored the opening run in the third. After ECU’s Drew Reynolds led off the inning with a single, Houchins doubled him to third with nobody out. Cherry got the first out of the frame with a bare-handed grab of an Ian Townsend grounder, but send his first pitch to Luke Lowery to the backstop to score Reynolds. But the sophomore right-hander got Lowery and Bryce Harman on strikes to escape further damage.
Carolina almost equalized immediately as Korey Dunbar sent a deep fly to right to open the fourth against starter Reid Love, but Townsend leapt above the wall to rob the home run and keep it 1-0 Pirates.
The Tar Heels did tie it up in the fifth via the longball, as Lassiter drove his first home run of the year out to left with one out. After a Skye Bolt bunt single and a Dunbar walk, ECU called on Williams with two on and Carolina poised to take its first lead of the night. But Williams got Parks Jordan to ground to first and proceeded to retire the next 10 batters in order.
With Williams dominating on the mound, the Pirates scratched out an insurance run in the eighth thanks to some good fortune. Harman led off the frame against Trevor Kelley with an infield single and, after failing to get a bunt down, Charlie Yorgen reached when his ball off the end of the bat stayed fair for another infield hit. After a Garrett Brooks sacrifice, Hunter Allen’s bloop single to center scored pinch-runner Ben Fultz to make it 3-1. Carolina avoided further damage when Alex Raburn tracked down Bolt’s errant throw to third and retired Yorgen trying to score from second.
But the insurance run would prove vital when the Tar Heels finally got to Williams in the ninth. Zach Daly reached on a one-out error before Michael Russell extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single back up the box. Wood Myers then drove in Daly with a hit to put the tying run in scoring position with just one out. But Williams got Joe Dudek to fly to center and then struck out Bolt to end it, giving the Pirates their first win over UNC in exactly five years.
Williams allowed just two hits and an unearned run over 4.1 innings for his 10th win of the season. Kelley put together another in a string of solid outings, going 3.0 innings with just three hits and a single run.
Carolina will return to Boshamer Stadium Wednesday to face No. 30 Liberty at 6 p.m. The Flames have been one of the best stories of 2014 and entered the week with a 31-9 record and an RPI of 20.
Next season the Duke and North Carolina basketball teams will have premier home and home series. The Devils host and travel to Syracuse, Notre Dame, North Carolina and Wake Forest while the Tar Heels host and travel to Louisville, Georgia Tech, Duke and NC State.
“It’s exciting to look ahead to our league’s basketball schedule, as there’s no shortage of quality conference games,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “This two-year alignment will allow for outstanding opportunities that will highlight our teams and players while providing our fans with continually appealing matchups.”
The matchups released today designate the 18-game home and away opponents for each of the next two seasons. Specific game dates, times and networks have not yet been determined.
Next season will mark the third in which each ACC team will play an 18-game conference schedule. With Louisville joining the ACC on July 1, nine of the conference’s 15 teams will enter next season having made postseason appearances in 2013-14, including seven teams that took part in NCAA Tournament play this past year.
The ACC’s collective non-losing streak in the NCAA Tournament reached 27 years in 2013-14, by far the longest stretch in the nation. The ACC has had at least one team ranked among the Top 10 of the final Associated Press poll for 54 consecutive years.
Conference game matchups for the next two seasons for Triangle teams are as follows:
Duke 2014-15
Home/Road: North Carolina, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Home: Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Boston College
Road: Florida State, NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville
North Carolina 2014-15
Home/Road: Duke, NC State, Georgia Tech, Louisville
Home: Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Road: Miami, Clemson, Wake Forest , Pittsburgh, Boston College
NC State 2014-15
Home/Road: North Carolina, Wake Forest, Clemson, Virginia
Home: Duke, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Road: Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Boston College
Duke 2015-16
Home/Road: North Carolina , Wake Forest , NC State, Louisville
Home: Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Road: Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Boston College
North Carolina 2015-16
Home/Road: Duke, NC State, Boston College, Syracuse
Home: Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh
Road: Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Notre Dame
NC State 2015-16
Home/Road: North Carolina, Wake Forest, Florida State, Duke
Home: Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Louisville, Boston College
Road: Virginia, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame
Simon Norenius.NC State’s Simon Norenius has been named this week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week.
Norenius posted a singles and doubles victory in the Wolfpack’s upset victory over No. 25 Wake Forest Saturday afternoon.
Norenius and teammate Austin Powell completed the sweep for State with an 8-7 (3) victory against Anthony Delcore and Adam Lee. In singles, Norenius helped turn the momentum after Wake Forest took a 2-1 lead with one of three 3-set victories for the Pack with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory against the No. 71-ranked Lee. The victory assisted the Wolfpack in earning the No. 6 seed in the ACC Championships, whereas a loss would have put NC State as the No. 9 seed in this week’s Championship.
Taylor Virden, Kerrin Maurer.Duke senior attacker Kerrin Maurer and senior defender Taylor Virden have been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Lacrosse Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, as announced Tuesday by the conference.
Maurer netted the game-winning goal with 26 seconds remaining in overtime to send eighth-ranked Duke past No. 3 North Carolina in the first women’s lacrosse game to be played at Kenan Stadium. Maurer tallied her eighth hat trick of the season, scoring the Blue Devils’ first and last goals of the contest. In addition, her assist on a Sydney Peterson goal with 4:12 left in regulation helped knot the game at 6-6. Maurer continues to pace Duke in scoring on the season with a team-best 47 goals and 25 assists for 72 points.
Virden helped the Duke defense hold the Tar Heels to their second-lowest scoring output of the season in Wednesday’s upset victory. One of the team’s key defensive personnel, Virden also helped the Blue Devils win the draw controls category by a 9-8 margin, contributing solid play from the wings.
The ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship gets under way Thursday, April 24, with quarterfinal action beginning at 11 a.m.
Duke men’s senior attackman Jordan Wolf was name ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week.
Wolf matched a career high with six goals and eight points overall to lead Duke to a 17-8 win over Rutgers. Wolf extended his point streak to 55 games and his goal scoring streak to 16 as Duke finished the regular season with a perfect 9-0 record at home. Wolf has nine hat tricks this season and 29 in his career, while his six goals moved him to fifth on the ACC career goals chart with 166. This is Wolf’s fourth Offensive Player of the Week honor of the season.
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With regular season play completed on Sunday, the bracket for the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Championship is set. The three-day event, which begins on Thursday, May 8 and concludes on Saturday, May 10, will be hosted by Maryland, with all games being played at Maryland Softball Stadium.
