SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's lacrosse team will head into Sunday's national championship game boasting the most USILA All-Americans of any team in Division III, as a program-record 10 Dutchmen were recognized for their on-field excellence by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association on Thursday afternoon.
 
Seniors Peter Burnes and Matt Belluche led the way with Dynamic All-America first-team honors, becoming only the second pair of Union teammates ever to earn first-team recognition in the same season and the first since 1931. The pair are only the 12th and 13th Union players ever to achieve first-team honors and are the first non-goalies since Jack Smith in 1937.
 
In addition, junior Jake Titus was named to the Dynamic All-America second team and sophomore Matthew Paolatto earned third-team honors, while six Dutchmen – seniors Brian Davis, Hayden Frey, Keaton McCann, Kieran McGovern and Ryan Puglisi, as well as sophomore Dan Donahue – all earned All-America honorable mention as well.
 
The 10 USILA honorees more than double the previous record of four, first set in 1933 and matched in 1941, 2015 and 2021. No school in Division III has more honorees than Union's 10, while the Dutchmen are one of five schools with multiple first-teamers and one of four to have at least four members of the first, second and third teams.
 
Burnes was named the Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year after recording 65 points on 45 goals and 20 assists during the regular season. When adding his 14 goals and five assists so far during the NCAA Tournament, he ranks second all-time on the Union single-season lists with 59 goals and 84 points so far in 2022. He has at least one point in every game this season and 14 multi-goal games, including seven games of four goals or more and 11 games of four points or more.
 
Belluche has had an excellent season as a leader on the defensive unit for the Dutchmen, leading all Union defensemen with 46 ground balls and 26 caused turnovers. He recorded at least one ground ball in all but one game this season, including a season-high six with two caused turnovers at Williams. He also scored the first two goals of his collegiate career on Senior Day against Vassar.
 
Titus has been a huge contributor as Union's top short-stick defensive midfielder, leading all Union field players with 58 ground balls and ranking fourth on the team with 12 caused turnovers while scoring eight goals with six assists for 14 points. He has played a big role in the success of Union's conference-best faceoff tandem, recording at least two ground balls in 17-of-20 games, including a career-high nine at Williams.
 
Paolatto has been excellent at the faceoff X for Union this season, currently ranking ninth in Division III by winning 70.7 percent (183 of 259) of his draws and grabbing a team-leading 125 ground balls. He has won over 75 percent of his draws in nine games and is winning at a 74.7 percent clip (142 of 190) over the last nine contests. His percentage would rank as the highest in a single season at Union and he is one of only four players in recent program history to reach triple figures in ground balls in a season.
 
Frey and McCann will go down as two of the top attackers in Union lacrosse history. Frey ranks third on the team in scoring with 36 goals and a team-best 28 assists for 64 points, and he currently sits sixth all-time at Union with 168 career points. McCann, who repeats as an All-America honorable mention, has scored 11 goals in the NCAA Tournament to give him 43 goals with 24 assists for 67 points so far as a senior, moving him into sixth place all-time in goals at Union with 119.
 
Davis and McGovern continued to lead Union from the midfield in their final seasons. A two-time All-America honorable mention, McGovern sits fourth on the team with 29 goals and 15 assists for 44 points, including seven goals and 10 points in four NCAA Tournament games so far. Davis paces all Union middies with 16 assists and has added 22 goals for 38 points so far in 2022
 
Puglisi and Donahue are two vital key to the success of the Dutchmen on the defensive end of the field. After earning All-America third-team honors last season, Puglisi ranks second among Union defensemen with 31 ground balls and 24 caused turnovers so far in his final season. Meanwhile, Donahue has had a superb season in the cage for Union in his second season as the starter, earning seven Liberty League Defensive Performer of the Week honors and posting a 9.36 goals against average and .574 save percentage.
 
Union's 10 All-Americans will have one more game on the field together, when the Dutchmen take on Rochester Institute of Technology in the NCAA Division III National Championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. in East Hartford, Conn.