Senior attack Kevin Rice, junior attack Dylan Donahue, senior midfielder Nicky Galasso, junior defender Brandon Mullins and sophomore faceoff specialist Ben Williams were selected to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team, the league announced on Wednesday.

Rice leads SU in assists with 30 this season, and his 2.73 helpers per game is fourth-most in the country. The senior attack is tied with Donahue for the team lead with 52 points.

Donahue is leading the Orange in scoring for the second consecutive year, and his 38 goals in 11 games has surpassed his clip of 37 last season. The junior attack’s 3.45 goals per game are the most in the Atlantic Coast Conference and he’s netted at least three goals in four of SU’s last five games.

An emergence from Galasso on the first-line midfield this year has provided the Orange a lot of offensive depth. The fifth-year senior leads SU midfielders with 23 goals on the season.

Mullins has captained SU’s counterattack and leads the team with 13 caused turnovers. The junior has also scooped up 11 ground balls on the season.

Syracuse has consistency at the faceoff X for the first time in several seasons, and Williams’ 69.3-percent winning percentage is second-highest in the country. He went 8-for-9 at the X in SU’s last game against Hobart on April 14.

Syracuse and North Carolina both have five representatives on the team, the most of any school in the conference.

No. 4 Syracuse (9-2, 2-2 ACC) opens up play in the ACC tournament with a semifinal matchup against No. 2 UNC (12-2, 3-1) on Friday at 8 p.m. in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Published on April 22, 2015 at 4:08 pm

Contact Connor: cgrossma@syr.edu | @connorgrossman