May 28, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State men's lacrosse rising senior Nick Aponte (West Islip, N.Y.) has earned honorable mention All-America honors, as announced by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) this morning.
Aponte is Penn State's 13th USILA Honorable Mention All-America honoree since 2005, as the Nittany Lions have had at least one selection in each year.
A 2016 Tewaaraton nominee, Aponte became Penn State's first ever First-Team All-Big Ten selection this year, earning a unanimous spot on the 10-man team. He also earned a spot on the Big Ten Men's Lacrosse All-Tournament Team. Aponte more than doubled his goal-scoring from a year ago, leading the team with 30 goals, while finishing second on the team with 19 assists for 49 points during the 2016 season.
He started all 15 games at attack, scoring at least one goal in all but three games. He posted nine multi-goal outings and dished out at least two assists in five games. He'll enter the 2017 season on a 32-game point-scoring streak, having amassed 46 goals and 34 assists for 80 points during the stretch.
Aponte opened the year with a career-high six points in the season-opener against Robert Morris, scoring two goals to go along with a career-high four assists and a pair of caused turnovers. He closed out the season with a career-high tying four goals in each of the final four games of the season, netting four in both the regular season and Big Ten Tournament semifinal meetings against top-five Maryland. Aponte also earned his first career Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week award following a five-point outing in the regular season finale against Michigan.
To view the complete 2016 USILA/Nike Division I All-America Teams, please click here.