With the regular season behind us, it’s time for the ACC to hand out the hardware in the form of their 2026 awards.
On Tuesday, the conference announced their season awards and All-ACC Team, both of which were determined by a vote of the league’s five head coaches.
One of the headliners of the announcement was Syracuse’s Joey Spallina, who was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Year. Joey was also one
of three ‘Cuse players to be named to the All-ACC Team, alongside Michael Leo and Luke Rhoa.
Joey is the first Syracuse player to earn ACC Offensive Player of the Year since Sergio Salcido in 2017. Kevin Rice, in 2015, is the only other SU player to earn the award since the Orange joined the league in 2014.
Joey leads the ACC in both points (71) and assists (41), while sitting second in both categories on a per game basis (4.73 points, 2.73 assists).
Having played the majority of the season at attack, Michael ranks eighth in the league in points per game (3.27) and fifth in assists per game (1.40).
Luke has been one of the top midfield scoring threats in the conference all season, scoring an average of 1.53 goals per game. His 23 goals rank him second in the ACC among midfielders, and his eight man-up goals are second-best in the country and tops by a midfielder.
The names that joined Joey in earning a season award are Brady Wambach and Shawn Lyght as co-Defensive Player of the Year, Thomas Ricciardelli as Goalie of the Year, Brendan Millon as Freshman of the Year and Kevin Corrigan as Coach of the Year.
The All-ACC Team is made up of 18 players, including seven attackers, four midfielders, three defenders, one goalie, one FOGO, one LSM and one SSDM. It’s one of the most evenly split ACC teams ever, with all five schools either contributing three or four players to the group. Duke, Notre Dame and Virginia all had four players named, while North Carolina and Syracuse had three.
Congratulations to Joey, Michael and Luke on their well-deserved honors!
