Ghitelman Tabbed ACC's Defensive Player of the Week

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia’s senior goalie Adam Ghitelman was named the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week for the period ending on Monday, March 14.

Ghitelman won two games in between the pipes to become the ACC’s all-time career winner with 43 triumphs in the cage. The 43rd career win between the pipes broke a tie with Duke’s Dan Loftus, who accomplished the feat over five seasons from 2004-08. Ghitelman now sits No. 7 all-time in NCAA Division I history with 43 career wins.

The Cold Spring, N.Y., native made 13 saves in an 11-9 victory over No. 14 Cornell on Saturday at the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic, giving him 467 career stops, jumping from No. 10 to No. 8 all-time in the UVa annals, passing Tom Groeninger (1988-91) and James Ireland (1991-94). At Ghitelman’s current rate of 9.8 saves per game, he can reach the No. 3 position (498) during the North Carolina game on April 9.

Ghitelman also picked up the victory against Vermont last week, collecting a career-high 11 ground balls and saving 10 shots against a Catamounts team receiving votes in both major polls. UVa went on to win the game 14-6.

The weekly honor is Ghitelman’s first career ACC Defensive Player of the Week nod, as the award was instituted this season. He did earn ACC Player of the Week honors last season on April 12, 2010 after limiting No. 2 North Carolina to five goals, while making 12 saves.

Ghitelman is UVa’s fourth player to be honored this season by one of the ACC’s weekly awards. He joins Chris Bocklet (offensive player of the week Feb. 22), Steele Stanwick (offensive player of the week March 1) and Rob Fortunato (defensive player of the week Feb. 22).

No. 2 Virginia returns to action on Saturday against No. 20 Ohio State, inside Klöckner Stadium. The contest is set to faceoff at 3 p.m., or at least 30 minutes following the UVa women’s lacrosse game with Princeton.