The one thing that the MLL has over every other professional sport is the unique ability to select college players before their respective final seasons on college campus. It has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. A team could pick a diamond in the rough and pick the player that breaks out in his final year on campus. On the other hand, a team could pick a player that did well his junior year and then regresses the year after. With that in mind, how are some of the draft picks doing from this year’s MLL Draft? Let’s take a look.
Tom Schreiber, M, Princeton, Ohio Machine—Schreiber continues to dazzle at Princeton. Whether he is covered by a pole or a short stick, he is putting up numbers. In only four games for the Tigers, Schreiber has 19 points. He also has three hat tricks while being the focal point of the offense. For a midfielder, those numbers are incredible. One last statistic, he became only the third player in Princeton lacrosse history to score at least 80 goals and 80 assists. Just in case you forgot, Princeton has a rich lacrosse history.
Jordan Wolf, A, Duke, Rochester Rattlers—Wolf has had a quiet last couple of games for Duke. Coincidentally, both those games have been losses for the Blue Devils. He had two goals and an assist versus Maryland and was held to one goal by Joe Fletcher and the Loyola defense. Don’t get me wrong, he is still a great player with his blend of straight line speed and agility but he is the key to the offense. Therefore, he will have to start putting up bigger numbers if the Blue Devils hope to rebound from two straight losses.
Niko Amato, G, Maryland, Florida Launch—Playing the best out of the other drafted goaltenders. He had probably one of the best games of his career in Maryland’s big win over Duke. He had 17 saves on 23 shots against the Blue Devils. He had a solid game by saving nine of the 17 shots he saw against Stony Brook and now ranks fourth in the nation in save percentage at a stellar 65 percent. He spearheads a defense that ranks third in the nation in goals allowed a game and should be a nice alternative to Brett Queener and Dillon Ward.
Mark Cockerton, A, Virginia, Rochester Rattlers—The talented Canadian has been a goal scoring machine. He has at least two goals in every game this season, including two games with four goals and a seven goal performance against High Point. Cockerton leads the nation in points this season with 34 and also leads the nation in goals scored with 25. He will add some much needed firepower to a Rattlers offense desperate for a contribution from the attack position.
Shane Sturgis, A, Penn State, Undrafted—Stugris can’t not picked up when the MLL season starts right? The guy has been one of the best attackman in the nation. He had four goals and an assist in the Nittany Lions 11-8 win over Ohio State. More impressive is that fact that in four games, he has scored six, three, five and four goals! He currently ranks fifth in the nation in goals scored and has played the fewest games. If he is not picked up by someone at the end of the college season, I will personally make my own YouTube campaign to get him on one.
Joe Fletcher, D, Loyola, New York Lizards—Fletcher has certainly redeemed himself since my last stock report. After I openly questioned his play at the beginning of the year, he has helped spearhead a defense that has allowed four, four and seven goals before they faced Duke on Sunday. Then, he helped shut down arguably the nation’s best attack unit. He limited No. 2 overall pick Jordan Wolf to one point and helped Loyola hold the Duke offense to seven goals on Sunday. Fletcher and Loyola’s defense seems to have found their groove and they will be interesting to watch as the season progresses.
Justin Ward, A, Loyola, Charlotte Hounds—Ward might be an unheralded name from this year’s draft class. In Sunday’s win over the Blue Devils, he scored one goal and handed out four assists and didn’t even have the best performance on his own team! Ward leads the nation in assists at 22 and has five goals as well. He should be a welcomed addition to the Hounds and be a great No. 2 option to run the offense behind Matt Danowski.
Kieran McArdle, A, St. Johns, Florida Launch—McArdle has been a steady hand for the Red Storm. Despite their 2-3 record, he has three games in which he has recorded five points and he also had a seven-point performance in the season opener. He was held in check against Drexel but McArdle is the real deal and Florida is getting a great offensive player.
Mike Chanenchuk, M, Maryland, Charlotte Hounds—Chanenchuk has been the leader that the ‘Baby Terps’ needed early on in the season. He has scored at least two goals in every game and has gone off the last two games. He made Duke’s defense look foolish by scoring five goals and an assist to propel the Terps to a No. 1 national ranking. He followed that performance up with a four goal performance against Stony Brook.
Chanenchuk is a great dodger from up top and can create his own shot against any defender and has a cannon of a shot. Charlotte should be excited to pair him with Jake Tripucka this year.
