DURHAM – For the second time this season Duke has swept the ACC Men's Lacrosse weekly awards as
Josh Zawada and
Kenny Brower were named the ACC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively. The duo was instrumental in helping No. 3 Duke upend No. 2 Virginia this past Sunday.
Zawada, a Raleigh, N.C., put on an offensive clinic against the Cavaliers, scoring a season-high five goals on seven shots to push Duke past Virginia 18-12 at Koskinen Stadium. Zawada also dished an assist to give him six points on the afternoon. With Zawada leading the charge, Duke's 18 goals were the most allowed by the Cavaliers since the NCAA quarterfinal in 2022.
Having been held without a goal in the previous two games, Zawada registered a hat trick in the first half to put Duke ahead 10-7 after two quarters. The veteran attackman added one more in both the third and fourth quarters to help the Blue Devils pull away for the six-goal victory. Zawada leads all Blue Devils with 34 assists and is second on the team in points with 60. He has 273 career points from 145 goals and 128 assists and owns five hat tricks this season.
The anchor to Duke's close defense, Brower turned in another excellent performance Sunday in helping hold Virginia to just 12 goals. The native of Massapequa, N.Y., caused a career-high four turnovers and picked up a ground ball as the Cavaliers finished the game shooting just 26.7 percent. The 12 goals were the fewest for UVA this season, while the 26.7 percent shooting was the second lowest of the year.
Matching up against Virginia's Connor Shellenberger, Brower kept the star attackman to a goal and three assists as Duke held the Cavaliers' starting attack unit to just nine points. They entered the contest averaging over 13 points per game.
The four caused turnovers pushed Brower's career total to 72, ranking fourth in Duke men's lacrosse history. He leads all Blue Devils this season with 18 caused turnovers.
Duke, bumping up one spot to No. 2, has the weekend off before closing the regular season at North Carolina April 27. Faceoff is set for noon in Chape Hill.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's lacrosse, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMLAX".
Duke Centennial
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