Harrison Selected by New Jersey Pride as Top Draft Pick at 2005 MLL Collegiate Draft
Published on June 2, 2005 under Major League Lacrosse (MLL) News Release
Fairfield, Conn. â Johns Hopkins University midfielder Kyle Harrison has been selected as the number one overall pick in the 2005 Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft by the New Jersey Pride at the league's annual draft at Sacred Heart University on Wednesday evening.
A four-year starter at midfield for the Blue Jays, Harrison ended his college career on Monday afternoon after helping the top-ranked Blue Jays win their first NCAA Division I men's lacrosse championship since 1987 in a 9-8 victory over second-ranked Duke University. Harrison, who is a strong candidate for the Tewaaraton Trophy, led the team in scoring this past season with 24 goals and 20 assists. In 61 career games, he scored 81 goals with 45 assists and was one of two Hopkins players to be named first-team All-America.
"People don't talk about the MLL in that it's not as big a scale as the NBA or NFL, but to be the number one pick in the highest level of your sport is a honor," Harrison said of being the top pick. "It's an accomplishment and it feels great."
New Jersey, who finished the 2004 campaign with a 1-11 record, is off to a 1-1 start this year and will take on Baltimore this Sunday afternoon at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium at Towson University.
With the second pick in the opening round, the defending MLL champion Philadelphia Barrage selected University of North Carolina attackman Jed Prossner. Prossner, who started every game in his college career, ranked second on the team in scoring this past season with 29 goals and 15 assists. An All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection for the third season in a row, Prossner finished his career ranked second on the school's all-time goals list and in a tie for seventh place on UNC's school ledger.
The Baltimore Bayhawks selected long-stick midfielder Brodie Merrill of Georgetown University. A four-year starter for the Hoyas, Merrill was a team captain this past season and scored four goals with four assists. Merrill was named the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year after recording 104 ground balls in 15 games. The Bayhawks then selected Blue Jays defensive midfielder Benson Erwin, who scored the game-winning goal in JHU's semifinal win over Virginia on Saturday afternoon. Erwin, who spent four seasons as the Blue Jays' top defensive midfielder, helped the Blue Jays win their first national title since 1987.
The Rochester Rattlers traded the sixth overall selection to the Boston Cannons in exchange for their first-round pick in next year's Collegiate Draft. With the selection, the defending American Division champion Cannons obtained attackman John Christmas from Virginia. A four-year starter on attack for the Cavaliers, Christmas finished second in scoring behind junior attackman Matt Ward this past season to help Virginia reach the national semifinals. He ended his UVA career with 95 goals and 57 assists in 58 career games.
With the final selection in the opening round, the Pride selected Georgetown face-off specialist Andy Corno, who ended his Hoya career as the school's all-time leader in face-off wins and face-off percentage. He won 624 of 995 career draws in 57 games for the Hoyas to go with 341 career ground balls.
New Jersey, which had four picks in the first two rounds, added Navy midfielder Graham Gill and goalkeeper Jay Pfeifer of Syracuse. With two selections in the second round, the Barrage added some offense by obtaining Johns Hopkins attackman Kyle Barrie and midfielder Justin Redd of Cornell, who scored three goals, including a two-pointer, in the Warrior Major League Challenge earlier on Wednesday afternoon.
The Long Island Lizards, who missed the playoffs for the first time in team history a year ago, added Bucknell midfielder Chris Cara with their first pick of the draft in the third round. The team leader in goals and points, Cara started all 13 games for the Bison this past season and ended his four-year career in a tie for first place on Bucknell's all-time assists list with 138 in addition to owning the school record for career points with 248.
With their third selection in the draft, the Bayhawks added Johns Hopkins attackman Matt Rewkowski before the Rattlers added a pair of defensemen with Justin Smith (Salisbury) and Scott Ditzell (Syracuse). The Cannons ended the third round by selecting Ditzell's teammate, midfielder Jarrett Park, with the final selection of the third round.
Brown University attackman Chazz Woodson was selected by Long Island to open the fourth round. A four-year attackman for the Bears, Woodson was named first-team All-Ivy League after scoring 19 goals with nine assists to rank second on the team in points. He was followed by Penn State defensive midfielder William Cutler, who was selected by Baltimore. Salisbury defenseman Jeff Bigas was taken by the Barrage before Virginia long stick midfielder Rob Bateman was selected by the Pride with their sixth pick of the draft and Notre Dame midfielder Brian Giordano was tabbed by the Cannons with their fourth-round selection.
In the final round, the Pride put the finishing touches on their draft picks by picking Cornell University defenseman Kyle Georgalas, who is the son of Coach Ted Georgalas. Long Island looked to Virginia midfielder Jack deVilliers with its fifth-round pick before Boston took Brown University's Chris Mucciolo with their opening pick of the fifth round. Rochester followed by selecting James Wagner of Army after the attackman scored the eventual game-winning goal in the Warrior Major League Challenge. The draft concluded with the Boston Cannons selecting All-America goalkeeper Andrew Goldstein from Dartmouth College.
The 2005 Major League Lacrosse season continues this weekend when Long Island takes on Philadelphia, Rochester travels to Nickerson Field to face the Cannons and the Bayhawks host the Pride in a rematch of last week's 21-12 Bayhawk victory.
Major League Lacrosse, a six-team professional outdoor lacrosse league, was founded in 1999 by fitness entrepreneur Jake Steinfeld, CEO of Body by Jake Global L.L.C., and partners Dave Morrow, a former champion lacrosse player and now CEO of Warrior Lacrosse, a leading global provider of innovative and high performance lacrosse equipment; and Timothy B. Robertson, former CEO of The Family Channel and the current chairman of Bay Shore Enterprises, L.L.C., an investment holding company with activities in international media and Internet technology ventures. The MLL commenced play in June of 2001 and has teams in Baltimore, Boston, Long Island, (Montclair) New Jersey, Philadelphia and Rochester. The 2005 MLL season will begin on Friday, May 20 and conclude with the New Balance Major League Lacrosse Championship Weekend on Friday, August 19 and Sunday, August 21. Additional league information can be found at www.majorleaguelacrosse.com.
Major League Lacrosse Stories from June 2, 2005
- Barrage Strengthen Roster In Collegiate Draft - Philadelphia Barrage
- MLL weekly - MLL
- Harrison Selected by New Jersey Pride as Top Draft Pick at 2005 MLL Collegiate Draft - MLL
- Defenseman Merrill first for Bayhawks in '05 - Chesapeake Bayhawks
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