Syracuse Lacrosse: Ben Williams, ACC Defensive Player of the Week

The Atlantic Coast Conference has named Syracuse Orange faceoff specialist Ben Williams the Defensive Player of the Week. In his most dominant game of the year, Williams pulled in 18 of 20 faceoffs against Colgate on Saturday. His .900 winning percentage is tied for the 10^th best single game performance in Syracuse history. The ACC Offensive Player of the Week for May 4 is Conor Doyle of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

This is the third time this season the ACC has honored Williams. His first Defensive Player of the Week award came for his .840 winning percentage against the Army Black Knights, and he was recently named to the 2015 All-ACC Team. In addition, Williams is currently a nominee for the 2015 Tewaaraton Trophy.

Last week, the ACC announced Coach John Desko as the ACC Coach of the Year and Kevin Rice as the ACC Offensive Player of the Year. Several other Syracuse players have been honored by the ACC as players of the week including the following:

Williams has finished up the regular season in spectacular fashion. Check below for his statistics as compared to former Syracuse players and all current division I players. One interesting note, if SU faces the Bryant Bulldogs in the first round of the Tournament, Williams will face Kevin Massa, one of the best faceoff guys in the country this year.

First off here's the game log:

Instead of going through stat-by-stat, here is a quick rundown of the highlights:

• Williams has 219 faceoff wins, 4^th in SU for wins in a season
• His 35 attempts against UNC is the second most in a game for a Syracuse player
• His .900 winning percentage against Colgate is tied for 10^th in winning percentage in a game in Syracuse history
• He has 133 groundballs this year, second in SU history for groundballs in a season
• He finishes the regular season second in faceoff winning percentage and first in groundballs per game in division I lacrosse

Here are the full lists:

@ Williams currently has 219 wins

^Minimum of 100 attempts (Williams currently has 324 attempts)

*GB statistics kept since 1988; Williams currently has 133

The Syracuse Orange will take on the winner of Bryant/Marist in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game will take place on Sunday at 7:30 pm, and can be seen on ESPNU and heard on WTKW 99.5 FM. Of course you can also follow me @Orangelax for updates throughout the game.