Mason Woodward Is Marquette’s First Ever Three-Time All-American

The 2023 Marquette men’s lacrosse season had a tough ending to it, but back at the end of May, there was a little bit of nice news to add to it. The USILA announced their All-American teams on May 25th, and Marquette defenseman Mason Woodward was one of three defenders on the Third Team. That makes him, in the USILA’s eyes, one of the 11 best defenders in the country, as there were five defensemen on the First Team and three on the Second Team.

While that’s neat enough on its own, there is a little bit of historical importance to Woodward’s accomplishment here. Woodward is now the first Marquette player to ever earn All-American honors from the USILA three times after he picked up Honorable Mention All-American status in each of the past two seasons. This isn’t a terrible surprise, to be honest as Woodward’s 2022 honor made him the first Golden Eagle to be a two-time All-American. He’s also the first Marquette All-American to be on one of the First, Second, or Third Teams since Liam Byrnes (Second), B.J. Grill (Third), and Jacob Richard (Third) all did that in 2016.

Let me turn it over to the Marquette press release here for a rundown of his statistical profile from the 2023 campaign:

He was an unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team selection at close defense and was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List on Feb. 10. The native of Towson, Maryland has led the Golden Eagles in caused turnovers in each of his four campaigns and is the program’s all-time leader in ground balls per game (4.71 per contest). Woodward was also a first team all-league pick during his first conference season in 2021 and was a second team choice last spring.

He posted a career-high 12 ground balls at Utah on Feb. 11 and ended the regular season second in NCAA Division I among close defensemen in ground balls per game (5.00). Overall, he’s 42nd nationally in ground balls per game and, in total, posted a career-high seven points (five goals, two assists), 70 ground balls and forced 16 turnovers this season. Marquette all-time ground ball leader Liam Byrnes (218) is just six ground balls ahead of Woodward (212).

The press release also notes that Woodward will be returning for a fifth season of eligibility in 2024 as a graduate student after finishing his degree in exercise physiology this spring. That will, of course, give him a chance at becoming Marquette’s first ever four-time All-American as well as the first player to ever earn All-American Team status for a second time.