PISCATAWAY, N.J. (May 26, 2011) - Rutgers men's lacrosse senior face-off specialist Chris Mattes (Westfield, N.J.) has been named an Honorable Mention All-American by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA), the organization announced today.

"It's obviously a huge honor for me to be named an All-American," Mattes said. "Even though this is seen as somewhat of an individual honor, I couldn't have done it without my teammates. I need to give a lot of credit to all of them, especially Will Mangan (Maplewood, N.J.) and Andrew D'Agostino (Syracuse, N.Y.) who grabbed a lot of the ground balls on the wings for me."

Mattes joins a long line of Scarlet Knights who have taken home All-American honors from the USILA with the most recent being midfielder Justin Pennington (Flemington, N.J.), who took home Honorable Mention honors in 2010.

Mattes, a First Team All-BIG EAST honoree and member of the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the week of March 7, was a force for RU in the faceoff circle winning a BIG EAST-best .635 percent (160-252) of draws on the season. In addition to his prowess at the faceoff dot, Mattes scooped a team-best 61 ground balls, while adding five points on a goal and four assists.

The Scarlet Knights wrapped up their season with a 6-9 overall record. The future looks bright for RU as it returns nine of 10 starters, including its leading point getter, Duncan Clancy (Princeton, N.J.) and goal scorer, Scott Klimchak (Clark, N.J.).

2011 All-America Team - Division I