The MLL is continuing to see some of the last of this year’s rookie class make their MLL debuts this season. The biggest name making his debut was Duke’s Jordan Wolf and he had a fantastic rookie debut. Other notable names who made debuts this past weekend were Johns Hopkins’ Brandon Benn, Stevenson’s Brett Hiken and Yale’s Brandon Mangan. How did the rest of the rookie class fare this past weekend? Check it out.
Chesapeake Bayhawks
Brandon Benn made his MLL debut and helped the Bayhawks to a high scoring victory over the Cannons. Benn scored a goal on three shots and scooped up a ground ball as well. Benn will benefit from so many other options on the Bayhawk offense taking attention away from him. He will be a high volume scorer who finishes off easy feeds from his teammates.
Denver Outlaws
Jeremy Noble had two ground balls and three shots this past weekend after missing the last couple of games. Brett Hiken made his MLL debut and the faceoff man from Stevenson went 1-of-5 on faceoffs. Hikan won 57 percent of his faceoffs in college while playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules.
Rochester Rattlers
Miles Thompson had his best performance of the season so far as he scored three goals in the loss to the Machine this past weekend. He has five goals on the season and six points in three games. Jordan Wolf exploded onto the MLL scene this weekend with a four goal, one assist performance which earned him Cascade Rookie of the Week. Mark Cockerton went scoreless this weekend but will add a nice finishing ability to this attack unit that is already very talented. Thomspon, Cockerton and Wolf get a chance to grow together on a team that is very young and hungry. Finally, John LoCascio continues to be a ground ball machine on defense for the Rattlers as he added four ground balls and now has 18 on the season.
Boston Cannons
Rob Emery finally broke through for his first two points of his MLL career as he scored two goals in a loss to Chesapeake this past weekend. He is a guy who can really stretch the defense with his blazing shot. Watch out for him to test the waters of the MLL’s two point arc this season. Scott McWilliams continues to find himself in the defensive rotation and add to a team that was playing pretty well until they met up with the Bayhawks last weekend.
New York Lizards
Brandon Mangan made his MLL debut this past weekend and registered an assist in the team’s loss to the Outlaws. Mangan will have a hard time cracking this attack rotation but could see some time coming out of the midfield for a couple of shifts per game. Joe Fletcher scooped up a career-high of six ground balls this weekend and has a season total of 10 in four games played. He also given the Lizards a standard down low defenseman, which the roster doesn’t have many of.
Charlotte Hounds
Justin Ward recorded his third straight four-point performance. In every game this season he has scored one goal and handed out three assists. Thomas DeNapoli scored a goal this past weekend and now has four points on the season so far for the Hounds. He provides versatility for the Hounds as he can play both attack and midfield. He will likely get more run at midfield as the attack position is pretty deep. Pat Laconi returned to play his first game since May 30 and he scored his first career MLL goal and what a goal it was! Laconi’s first and only goal was the game winner in helping the Hounds win their second straight game of the season. Finally, Michael Ehrhardt and Henry Lobb combined for three ground balls in the victory and they continue to crack the defensive rotations for the Hounds.
Ohio Machine
Tom Schreiber scored a season low of one goal on eight shots last weekend. Luckily, the Machine had plenty of help from the rest of the offense as they scored 18 goals on the Rattlers. Schreiber has had a strong season though as he has eight goals and two assists for 10 points so far this season.
Florida Launch
Kieran McArdle continues his strong performance in the MLL as he scored two goals and added an assist as well. He now has 18 points on the season. Former Ohio State defenseman Joe Meuer continues to get in the rotation on defense and had two ground balls in his third game of the season. Ryan Creighton added two more ground balls to his total for the season and continues to provide some young legs on the defensive midfield unit for the Launch. Matt Harris also added two ground balls in the loss this weekend to Charlotte and has four ground balls in two games to go along with playing some solid defense for the Launch.
