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Major League Lacrosse Announce Week 2 Player of the Week Awards

April 21, 2015 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL) News Release


BOSTON (April 21st, 2015) - Major League Lacrosse, the premier professional outdoor lacrosse league completed Week 2 of its 2015 season on Sunday April 19th. There were three games played on Sunday afternoon between six of the league's eight teams.

The Denver Outlaws played their second away game of the season against the Ohio Machine and this time they came away with an exciting last second win of 14-13. Mike Bocklet opened up the scoring for Denver, scoring just 15 seconds into the game. Bocklet went on to post a personal best, four goal game, including a last second game winning goal to lift his team to their first win of the season. Bocklet's most impressive goal may not have been his game-winner but rather his behind-the-back beauty, during the third quarter which gave him his first career hat trick. Anthony Kelly went 24 for 30 in faceoffs against the Machine, which was the second best faceoff percentage of the weekend. The Machine had many promising moments during this closely played game, with Zack Palmer scoring his first career goal, Peter Baum scoring his second straight hat-trick of the season and Tom Schreiber scoring back-to-back goals to bring his team within one during the fourth quarter. Both Denver and Ohio will have bye weeks this coming weekend and will resume play on May 3rd.

The New York Lizards dominated from the get-go, in their second game of the season, posting a 19-9 win against the Rochester Rattlers, making them the first team in the league thus far to be 2-0 on the season. With a full team contribution, many Lizards put points on the board on Sunday including Paul Rabil, the Lizard's highly anticipated off-season trade acquisition, who scored his first hat trick of the season. Greg Gurenlian recorded an impressive 23 for 26 faceoff win percentage against the Rattlers, which was the highest faceoff win percentage of the day. Although Gurenlian is by definition an offensive player, his ability to hold control of the ball during the game turned out to be a great defensive benefit to his team. Rochester has been projected to make it back to a second straight championship game this season by major voices in the lacrosse community, so provided that missing star players have a healthy return to the team in the coming weeks, their efforts can turn right back around. The Rattlers will get their chance for redemption against the Lizards next Sunday as the two teams complete a "home and home" series on April 26th.

With both the Florida Launch and the Chesapeake Bayhawks beginning their season on a bye week, this week was the first game of the season for both. The Bayhawks beat the Launch 12-8 with Tyler Fiorito, Bayhawks goalie, recording an 18-save game and Ben Rubeor, long-time attackman for the Bayhawks, scoring five goals. Brett Queener, goalie for the Launch, put on a show despite the loss, making 25 saves on 37 shots and scoring an end-to-end highlight worthy goal in the fourth quarter. The Launch will play their first home game of the season next Sunday against the Bayhawks.

In continuation of their contributions to Major League Lacrosse, three of our sponsors, Coca-Cola, Warrior Lacrosse and The Faceoff Academy will present weekly recognitions to players across the league that display exceptional play during the game and in their prospective role on their team.

Coca-Cola Players of the Game

Coca-Cola, as a multi-year and proud sponsor of MLL, will feature a weekly honor titled the "Coca-Cola Players of the Game", where one player from each match-up will be deemed the most valuable player of the game. Here are the Week 2 MLL "Coca-Cola Players of the Game":

Greg Gurenlian of the New York Lizards

Mike Bocklet of the Denver Outlaws

Ben Rubeor of the Chesapeake Bayhawks

Warrior Lacrosse Offensive & Defensive Player of the Week

Warrior Lacrosse, a leading lacrosse brand for equipment, footwear and apparel, will continue to sponsor both an offensive player of the week and defensive player of the week. These awards are two separate awards that honor the best offensive and defensive MLL performances from the week. Here are the Week 2 MLL "Warrior Offensive Player of the Week" and "Warrior Defensive Player of the Week":

Warrior Offensive Player of the Week: Mike Bocklet of the Denver Outlaws

Warrior Defensive Player of the Week: Greg Gurenlian of the New York Lizards

FOAthlete of the Week, Presented by The Faceoff Academy

The Faceoff Academy, another of the MLL's returning sponsors, specializes in the most elite level faceoff coaching in the world. Faceoff men play a huge role in lacrosse. They are the ones that start a possession and can literally make or break a game by themselves. That's why we're introducing "FOAthlete of the Week, Presented by The Faceoff Academy". The award is a weekly feature recapping the best faceoff performance of the week based on winning percentage. Here is our Week 2 MLL "FOAthlete of the Week, Presented by The Faceoff Academy":

Greg Gurenlian, Midfielder of the NY Lizards

23-for-26 at the "X"

With an 88% Faceoff Win Percentage against Rochester

Week 3 is a week of rematches in the MLL. The Chesapeake Bayhawks travel for the away leg of a "home and home" series with the Florida Launch. While in the "MLL Game of the Week", the Rochester Rattlers visit Long Island to avenge their Week 2 loss to the NY Lizards. Finally, the Charlotte Hounds and Boston Cannons, both fresh off Week 2 byes, collide in a battle for early season supremacy. All three MLL games are available to stream on ESPN3, as well as on a number of regional sports networks.


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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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