POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Peyton Smith of the Marist men's lacrosse team was recognized as a USILA/Warrior and New Balance Division I Scholar All-American, USILA announced late Friday afternoon. Smith joined Alex Akins of Detroit Mercy as one of only two MAAC players to earn the recognition.
A Scholar All-American must be nominated by his coach and be a student with a senior year academic standing and a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (4.0 scale). He will have behaved in a manner that has brought credit to himself, his institution, and to college lacrosse both on and off the field. He must also be an All-American, a member of a North/South team, or an outstanding league or conference player.
The Red Foxes have a rich history of fellow Scholar All-Americans. Most recently, the pair of Brian Corrigan '18 and Gannon Morison '18 earned the honor following the 2018 season, marking the first time in program history that two players have earned the recognition in the same season. The prestigious group also includes J.D. Recor '17, Joseph Radin '16, Corey Zindell '11, and Assistant Coach
Dave Scarcello '15.
Smith, the recently crowned Marist Male Sportsperson of the Year, was recently drafted into both the PLL and MLL, by the Redwoods and Boston Canons, respectively.
As it stands right now, Smith is one of the best face-off specialists in the history of the program. With the conclusion of the shortened 2020 season, he ended his career with the second-best career face-off percentage of any player in Marist history at .589. Smith also ended his career with 215 ground balls, which ranks him tied-for-third in the history of the program.
During Marist's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship run In 2019, Smith finished the season with a .630 face-off percentage (11th in the entire NCAA) en route to being crowned the MAAC Face-Off Specialist of the Year. After being named MAAC Preseason Co-Player of the Year prior to this season, Smith lived up to the reputation by winning two MAAC Defensive Player of the Week Awards. In addition, he ranked in the top-10 in the NCAA in ground balls and in the top-11 in face-off percentage. Smith was also a member of the MAAC All-Academic Team in 2018 and 2019, as well as a Senior CLASS Award Candidate in 2020.