The past two years have shown that rookies can make a huge impact for their teams. The 2013 Charlotte Hounds and the Rochester Rattlers this past season were stocked with rookie talent and both made it to the MLL Championship Game. Unfortunately, both teams placed second to veteran squads, but nonetheless, they still proved rookies don’t just sit the bench.
2013 Charlotte Hounds Rookies:
Josh Hawkins (Loyola) – Jake Tripucka (Duke) – Mason Poli (Bryant) – Matt White (UVa) – Mike Sawyer (Loyola)
2014 Rochester Rattlers Rookies:
Jordan Wolf (Duke) – Mark Cockerton (UVa) – Miles Thompson (Albany) – John Locascio (Villanova)
Those are just some of rookies that made impacts for their teams. Rob Pannell (Cornell) for the Lizards, Logan Schuss (Ohio/Ohio State), Marcus Holman (Ohio/North Carolina), Eric Law (Denver/Denver), Jesse Bernhardt (Chesapeake/Maryland) and Boston’s Will Manny (UMass) put on a show when they stepped on the field in 2013.
Rob Emery (Boston/UVa), Justin Ward (Charlotte/Loyola), Jordan Mcardle (Florida/St. John’s), Joe Fletcher (New York/Loyola), Thomas DeNapoli (Charlotte/Towson) and Tom Schreiber (Ohio/Princeton), were other rookies in 2014 that scared defenses when they stepped on the field.
Teams that have drafted the best rookies have gone on to MLL Championship weekend. This year in the MLL, the Hounds, who drafted the best rookies last year (2013) finished last, but have so much talent on their squad that their drafts ending next year will make a huge impact and strengthen their team, along with Florida, and Chesapeake.
2013 and 2014 were the strongest rookies classes in a while for the MLL. Next years class seems to be just as promising with the likes of Lyle Thompson (A, Albany), Notre Dame’s Conor Doyle (A) and Conor Kelly (G), Brian Daily (D, Duke), Denver’s Wesley Berg (A), Erik Adamson (M) and Ryan LaPLante (G), Nick Saputo (FO, Drexel), Niko Pontrello (A, Loyola), virginia’s Owen Van Arsdale (A) & Ryan Tucker (A), Jesse King (A, Ohio State), Mike MacDonald (A, Princeton), Cornells’ Matt Donovan (A), Connor Buczek (A) & John Hogan (A), Conrad Oberbeck (A, Yale), David Dickson (M, Bucknell), Ryan Walsh (A, Colgate), Lehigh’s Dan Taylor (A) & Patrick Corbett (A), Wells Stanwick (A, Johns Hopkins), Syracuse’s Kevin Rice (A) & Randy Staats (A), Maryland’s Jay Carlson (A) and Casey Ikeda (D), John Glesener (A, Army), Colin McLinden (M, Fairfield), Keith Dreyer (A, Air Force), Bo Stafford (A, Georgetown), High Point’s Matt Thistle (A) & Austin Geisler (G), Richie Hurley (A, Siena), Shayne Adams (A, Detroit Mercy), Colin Joka (A, Marist), Mike Rooney (A, Stony Brook), North Carolina’s Chad Tutton (M), Joey Sankey (A) and Jimmy Bitter (A), Michael Sagal (A, Quinnipiac) and many more.
