PHILADELPHIA – For the fourth consecutive season, at least two Wildcats have been named to the Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Men 's Lacrosse Team with
Matt Licata and
Tyler Sandoval earning spots on this season's list that was unveiled Tuesday afternoon.
The Wildcats are two of 13 student-athletes from 10 different schools who were named to the team for the combination of their academic achievement and athletic accomplishments during the season after a vote by the sports information offices of the colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area.
Licata makes his way onto the local ledger for the second straight season while Sandoval earns his first plaudit from the group. With these two accolades, the men's lacrosse program now has 23 honorees since the 2005-06 campaign.
This latest accolade adds to the lengthy resume Licata has built on the Main Line. He earned All-BIG EAST for the second consecutive season this year after scoring 28 goals and dishing out 12 assists, starting in all 15 appearances. He found the back of the net in all seven contests against ranked opponents. He had a massive outing in a thrilling win against Marquette on April, scoring a career-high five goals and adding an assist for a six-point day. Two of his goals came in 12 seconds with two minutes remaining in the win. That performance resulted in BIG EAST Player of the Week and USILA Team of the Week nods for the Sandown, N.H. native. The graduate also landed BIG EAST All-Tournament Team honors for the second time in his career after helping the 'Cats to the BIG EAST Championship game for the second consecutive season, scoring five goals and three helpers along the way.
A graduate transfer from Princeton, Sandoval earned a USA Lacrosse All-American Honorable Mention nod this season with the Wildcats, making 14 appearances on the field throughout the season. The faceoff specialist won 114 of his 185 faceoffs for a .616 win percentage to rank seventh in program history for a season and ninth among all faceoff specialists in the nation on the year. The Garden City, N.Y. native was deemed BIG EAST Specialist of the Week twice in this campaign. The first laurel came after a 14-18 showing against Colgate on Feb. 22 before earning his second after on a personal-best .813 winning clip in an overtime win against Denver where he went 13-16 in the circle, including a win to gain possession on the game-winner.
