Major League Lacrosse Completes 2008 Supplemental Draft
December 6, 2007 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL) News Release
Boston, Mass. (December 6, 2007) - Major League Lacrosse (MLL), the premier professional outdoor lacrosse league, announced the results of the 2008 Supplemental Draft which was held on Wednesday, December 5th at 1:00 PM ET. The draft, which consisted of seven rounds, lasted until approximately 2:00 PM ET.
The San Francisco Dragons and Washington Bayhawks held the most picks, with nine (9) selections each.
Defenseman Robert Smith, a 2007 graduate of the University of Delaware, was the selected by the Chicago Machine with the first overall pick. In 2007, Smith collected 52 groundballs in his final season with the Fightin' Blue Hens. Michael Howley, a 2003 graduate of Maryland, was selected by the San Francisco Dragons with the second pick. Howley, a veteran MLL defenseman, has spent time with the Baltimore Bayhawks, Rochester Rattlers, and Long Island Lizards. Defenseman John Glatzel, who spent three seasons in Rochester and one in Boston, was selected by the New Jersey Pride with the third overall pick.
Rounding out the top five, the Washington Bayhawks had back-to-back selections with the fourth and fifth picks. With the fourth pick, the Bayhawks selected 2007 Towson graduate Matt Eckerl. Despite missing several games his senior season due to injury, Eckerl was 105 of 220 on face-offs in 2007, and is the Tigers' current career leader in ground balls with 307. With the fifth pick, Washington selected MLL veteran Billy Glading. Glading, an excellent two-way midfielder, played in 2005 and 2006 with the Boston Cannons.
Other MLL players of note selected were defensemen Damien Davis, Trey Whitty, and Jamie Hanford. Davis, a 2003 Princeton graduate, began his MLL career with the Long Island Lizards. Davis also played a season with the Philadelphia Barrage before spending the past two seasons in Chicago. Davis was selected in the first round of the Supplemental Draft by the New Jersey Pride, with the tenth pick.
Whitty, a 2003 University of Virginia graduate played in all twelve regular season games and collected 22 groundballs for the San Francisco Dragons in 2006 before being traded to Denver in 2007. He was selected in the fifth round by the Washington Bayhawks with the forty-fourth pick. Hanford, taken by the Long Island Lizards in the sixth round with the fifty-fifth pick, has been in the league since 2001. Hanford, who began his MLL career with the Bridgeport Barrage, has also played in Baltimore, New Jersey, and Boston.
In addition to those veterans, several promising young players were chosen as well, such as attackman Derek Cherney, an All-American player out of Division III Amherst College and the 2007 NESCAC Player of the Year, taken fourteenth by Washington; defenseman Michael Graham, who was a four year starter at Loyola and was drafted by Philadelphia in the 2007 Collegiate Draft, chosen seventeenth by Denver; and goaltender Harry Alford of the University of Maryland, also selected by Denver with the sixty-seventh pick. One of the nation's top college goaltenders, Alford missed most of his senior season due to injury. Selected by the Chicago Machine in the 2007 Collegiate Draft, he played one complete game and made appearances in four others.
Those teams whose rosters were less than thirty (30) players at the conclusion of the Supplemental Draft were then eligible to select additional players to bring their rosters up to thirty. The Chicago Machine made one additional selection, and the Boston Cannons and Long Island Lizards each added an additional two players.
Beginning on Thursday, December 6th at 12:00 PM ET, teams may claim players from the remaining Player Pool to bring their Pre-Season Active Roster count to thirty-five (35) players.
Training Camp for MLL teams begins on April 26th. The 2008 MLL season is set to begin on Saturday, May 17th.
Major League Lacrosse Stories from December 6, 2007
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