Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/26/16
From Press Release
Air Force attacker Chris Walsch and defender Alex Warden (Garnet Valley) earned honorable mentions on the 2016 USILA/Nike All-America Division I team, the league announced over the weekend.
Warden logged 35 ground balls and forced 25 turnovers on the season and one goal. The Glen Mills, Pa., native held Bellarmine’s leading scorer Tucker Ciesseau to one goal on the SoCon semi-finals game. He was named to the 2016 All-SoCon First Team and the SoCon All-Tournament Team for his defensive merits.
The senior defender has logged 113 ground balls and 79 caused turnovers in his career, he has started in 60 of 63 games played.
The Southern Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, Walsch logged 64 points from 35 goals and 29 assists this season. The sophomore from Hampstead, Md., also notched four game-winning scores during the 2016 campaign. His signature performance came in a seven-point effort in a 10-9 upset at then-No. 9 Duke on March 22, capped by a game-winner in the waning seconds of overtime. Walsch earned league offensive player of the week honors three times and was named offensive player of the month for March. He logged five hat tricks on the season.
Walsch has started in all 33 of his career appearances and has accumulated 119 points from 72 goals and 47 assists in his first two seasons. His 64 points on the season is high enough for the second most single-season points in the program’s modern era.
The announcement marks Air Force’s fourth lacrosse All-America honorable mention since 2014. The program now has two First Team All-Americans in attacker Rick Taylor (1970) and defender Ray Niemiec (1971), one All-America Third Team member and 12 All-America honorable mentions.
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