Eight Earn Media All-America Honors
5/14/2025 11:12:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
BALTIMORE – Eight Syracuse University men's lacrosse standouts earned mention on the Inside Lacrosse Nike Lacrosse Media All-America lists, announced by the Baltimore-based media outlet on Wednesday morning.
Sam English was named First Team, with Joey Spallina, Michael Leo, and John Mullen earning Second Team recognition. Owen Hiltz, Carter Rice, Billy Dwan III and Jimmy McCool were among those on the Honorable Mention list.
Syracuse was tied for the most Media All-America honorees this year, alongside its next opponent, Princeton, which also had eight All-America selections. Top-seeded Cornell had seven while Army West Point, Maryland, Notre Dame, and Duke had six apiece. Voting was conducted prior to the first round of the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament.
A Swiss Army knife midfielder for the Orange, English has started in all 17 games to date, seeing time at offensive midfield, defensive midfield, faceoff wings, and the man-down unit. The Burlington, Ontario product has 21 goals with 11 assists for 32 points, putting up at least one point in 16 of the 17 games this year. English has 56 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers and has sat for just one 30 second penalty. The graduate student was recently drafted third overall in the 2025 PLL Collegiate Draft, selected by the California Redwoods.
Spallina has likewise played and started in all 17 games as an attackman this spring. He leads Syracuse with 81 points on 31 goals and 50 assists, ranking eighth in Division I with a 4.76 points per game average and a 2.94 assists per game rate, the fifth-best in the country. Spallina has at least one point in each game of 2025, including two double-digit efforts, including 11 points (5g, 6a) against No. 20 Colgate. The Mount Sinai, New Yorker added the game-winning assist to his season total in the first-round win over No. 12 Harvard.
Leading Syracuse's scoring efforts through the midfield, Leo has tagged opponents for 39 points on 27 goals and 12 assists, including four man-up tallies this year. The Seaford, New York native has nine multi-goal games in 2025, including five hat tricks. A spark for the Orange, Syracuse is 9-3 when Leo scores and 3-2 when he does not score a goal.
One of the best faceoff specialists in the country, Mullen has won 65.2 percent of his faceoffs, ranking third in Division I and has the best winning percentage among players that have reached the NCAA Quarterfinal round. Mullen has won more faceoffs than any other player in the country, picking up 258 victories, 15 more than Cornell's Jack Cascadden. Mullen leads all of Division I with 9.71 ground balls per game, again leading the country in total ground balls with 165. Another spark for the Orange, Syracuse has scored 87 times directly following a John Mullen faceoff win this season.
The most consistent point getter in program history, Hiltz has recorded at least one point in every game his career, all 62 of them to date. The Peterborough, Ontario product produced the overtime game-winning goal in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament, the program's first overtime win since 2019 and ending a five-game skid in extra time. Hiltz is second on the team in points, racking 67 on 42 goals and 25 assists. He has five game-winning goals this season, including two in the last three games. Hiltz has canned 33.9 percent of his total shots this year and has put 60.5 percent of his 124 total shots on goal, scoring on well over 50 percent of his shots on goal. Hiltz was selected eighth overall in the PLL Collegiate Draft in early May by the Carolina Chaos.
One of the top short stick defensive midfielders in the country, Rice has been a force on a defense that surrenders just 9.71 goals per game, a top-20 rate in Division I. Hailing from Milton, Massachusetts, Rice has forced seven opponent miscues while grabbing 17 ground balls. He has two assists to his credit this season, including a helper on a 10-man ride buster at Utah. Rice was picked 29th overall in the PLL Collegiate Draft, joining English on the California Redwoods.
A rangy defenseman out of Greater Baltimore, Dwan has started all 17 games at close defense, causing 15 turnovers along the way. Great off the ground, Dwan has 28 ground balls and is a threat in transition with three goals and an assist for four points as a pole this year. Dwan anchors a defense that allows just 9.71 goals per game.
In his first season as a starting netminder, McCool has made his presence known, hold seven opponents to single digits this year, including just eight goals allowed against Duke in the ACC Championship game, a tournament of which McCool was selected as the Most Valuable Player. The Bostonian carries a 12-4 record into the NCAA Quarterfinals while also logging a 55.2 save percentage. McCool has a save percentage better than 60 percent in seven games this season.
The eight Media All-America honorees and the No. 5 Orange head for Hempstead, New York this weekend for the NCAA Division I Quarterfinals, hosted at Hofstra University's James M. Shuart Stadium. Syracuse takes on Ivy League runner-up Princeton in a classic postseason rivalry game on Saturday. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU following the day's first Quarterfinal game between Cornell and Richmond.
Tickets and parking information are available at GoHofstra.com.
Sam English was named First Team, with Joey Spallina, Michael Leo, and John Mullen earning Second Team recognition. Owen Hiltz, Carter Rice, Billy Dwan III and Jimmy McCool were among those on the Honorable Mention list.
Syracuse was tied for the most Media All-America honorees this year, alongside its next opponent, Princeton, which also had eight All-America selections. Top-seeded Cornell had seven while Army West Point, Maryland, Notre Dame, and Duke had six apiece. Voting was conducted prior to the first round of the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament.
A Swiss Army knife midfielder for the Orange, English has started in all 17 games to date, seeing time at offensive midfield, defensive midfield, faceoff wings, and the man-down unit. The Burlington, Ontario product has 21 goals with 11 assists for 32 points, putting up at least one point in 16 of the 17 games this year. English has 56 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers and has sat for just one 30 second penalty. The graduate student was recently drafted third overall in the 2025 PLL Collegiate Draft, selected by the California Redwoods.
Spallina has likewise played and started in all 17 games as an attackman this spring. He leads Syracuse with 81 points on 31 goals and 50 assists, ranking eighth in Division I with a 4.76 points per game average and a 2.94 assists per game rate, the fifth-best in the country. Spallina has at least one point in each game of 2025, including two double-digit efforts, including 11 points (5g, 6a) against No. 20 Colgate. The Mount Sinai, New Yorker added the game-winning assist to his season total in the first-round win over No. 12 Harvard.
Leading Syracuse's scoring efforts through the midfield, Leo has tagged opponents for 39 points on 27 goals and 12 assists, including four man-up tallies this year. The Seaford, New York native has nine multi-goal games in 2025, including five hat tricks. A spark for the Orange, Syracuse is 9-3 when Leo scores and 3-2 when he does not score a goal.
One of the best faceoff specialists in the country, Mullen has won 65.2 percent of his faceoffs, ranking third in Division I and has the best winning percentage among players that have reached the NCAA Quarterfinal round. Mullen has won more faceoffs than any other player in the country, picking up 258 victories, 15 more than Cornell's Jack Cascadden. Mullen leads all of Division I with 9.71 ground balls per game, again leading the country in total ground balls with 165. Another spark for the Orange, Syracuse has scored 87 times directly following a John Mullen faceoff win this season.
The most consistent point getter in program history, Hiltz has recorded at least one point in every game his career, all 62 of them to date. The Peterborough, Ontario product produced the overtime game-winning goal in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament, the program's first overtime win since 2019 and ending a five-game skid in extra time. Hiltz is second on the team in points, racking 67 on 42 goals and 25 assists. He has five game-winning goals this season, including two in the last three games. Hiltz has canned 33.9 percent of his total shots this year and has put 60.5 percent of his 124 total shots on goal, scoring on well over 50 percent of his shots on goal. Hiltz was selected eighth overall in the PLL Collegiate Draft in early May by the Carolina Chaos.
One of the top short stick defensive midfielders in the country, Rice has been a force on a defense that surrenders just 9.71 goals per game, a top-20 rate in Division I. Hailing from Milton, Massachusetts, Rice has forced seven opponent miscues while grabbing 17 ground balls. He has two assists to his credit this season, including a helper on a 10-man ride buster at Utah. Rice was picked 29th overall in the PLL Collegiate Draft, joining English on the California Redwoods.
A rangy defenseman out of Greater Baltimore, Dwan has started all 17 games at close defense, causing 15 turnovers along the way. Great off the ground, Dwan has 28 ground balls and is a threat in transition with three goals and an assist for four points as a pole this year. Dwan anchors a defense that allows just 9.71 goals per game.
In his first season as a starting netminder, McCool has made his presence known, hold seven opponents to single digits this year, including just eight goals allowed against Duke in the ACC Championship game, a tournament of which McCool was selected as the Most Valuable Player. The Bostonian carries a 12-4 record into the NCAA Quarterfinals while also logging a 55.2 save percentage. McCool has a save percentage better than 60 percent in seven games this season.
The eight Media All-America honorees and the No. 5 Orange head for Hempstead, New York this weekend for the NCAA Division I Quarterfinals, hosted at Hofstra University's James M. Shuart Stadium. Syracuse takes on Ivy League runner-up Princeton in a classic postseason rivalry game on Saturday. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU following the day's first Quarterfinal game between Cornell and Richmond.
Tickets and parking information are available at GoHofstra.com.
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