BALTIMORE – Saint Joseph's junior face-off specialist Zach Cole has made program history with a selection to the Inside Lacrosse Media All-American Third Team, as the selections were announced on Sunday evening. The Mount Laurel, N.J. native becomes the first Hawk in program history to earn multiple All-American accolades, having also earned Second Team honors in 2020.

In 13 games this season, Cole went 222-for-325 from the X, winning 68.3 percent of his opportunities to go with an SJU single-season, program-record 142 ground balls. Cole averaged 17 face-off wins and 11 ground balls per contest and scrapped for double-digit ground balls in nine of 13 games, recording a season-high 14 ground balls in five contests, and went over 70.0 percent from the X six times.

The junior standout won 13 or more of his face-off attempts in all 13 games this year, beginning with a non-conference showing of 13-for-18 (72.2 percent) with 11 ground balls at Towson, 22-for-32 (68.8 percent) with 14 ground balls at Delaware, and 14-for-22 (63.6 percent) with 10 ground balls at Army.

In conference play, Cole won at a clip of 71.7 percent (137-for-191) with 87 ground balls through eight games.

He went a combined 30-for-46 (65.2 percent) with 20 ground balls in NEC road wins over Wagner and Sacred Heart to kick off conference play and followed up with a near-perfect showing in SJU's home-opening win over Merrimack, going 18-for-19 (94.7 percent) with 14 ground balls; the first face-off of the game went out of bounds in favor of the Warriors, but Cole would go on to win the remaining 18 face-off opportunities.

Cole went 20-for-31 (64.5 percent) with 14 ground balls against Mount St. Mary's and 14-for-28 (50.0 percent) with six ground balls at Hobart, winning the overtime face-off possession in both games. He then exploded at Bryant, where he went 20-for-22 (90.9 percent), going 15-for-15 to open the game and 5-for-5 to close the game, with 13 ground balls. He then went 22-of-29 (75.9 percent) with eight ground balls vs. LIU before turning in a 13-for-16 showing (81.3 percent) with 12 ground balls in the regular-season finale vs. Wagner.

Freshly off being named the 2021 Northeast Conference Player of the Year, Cole dominated LIU with a 23-for-32 showing from the X, winning 71.9 percent of his opportunities with 14 ground balls to lead the Hawks to a win in the semifinals of the 2021 NEC Tournament.

Saint Joseph's All-Time All-Americans
Z. Cole - Third Team - 2021
Z. Cole - Second Team - 2020
M. Adler - Honorable Mention - 2020
M. Rastivo - Honorable Mention - 2016