Crotty Goes No. 1, Nats Busy on Draft Day

by Michael Fornabaio | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online | MLL Draft Blog

Ned Crotty capped a busy week -- winning a national championship and the Tewaaraton Trophy and rejoining Team USA -- by being selected No. 1 by the Machine in the MLL draft Sunday. © Kevin P. Tucker

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Suspense at the top? Not in this draft.

The Machine made Duke senior, Tewaaraton Trophy winner and U.S national team member Ned Crotty the first pick in the MLL collegiate draft on Sunday.

Maybe it wasn't a surprise, but "it's still pretty amazing, going No. 1 overall in this draft," Crotty said. "Some great players have done that in the past."

Crotty spent the afternoon with Team USA, falling 12-11 to a team made up of many of the other players picked in the draft. He topped them all, capping a week that included an NCAA championship on Monday, the Tewaaraton on Thursday and this honor Sunday.

"It's a whirlwind," Crotty said, who said he didn't know much about the Machine but was excited to get to work. "The past week has just been nuts, but obviously in a very good way. Everything worked out well. I'm looking forward to the next part."

So is the Machine, Chicago's player-personnel manager Scott Hiller said.

"We were certainly talking to him for a long time," Hiller said. "There are not a lot of guys like him, distributors who can feed the ball like he does. The guys on the team are really excited.

"Guys like him are real catalysts of offense."

Johns Hopkins midfielder Michael Kimmel, who stood out earlier for the MLL College All-Stars against Team USA, went second to the Chesapeake Bayhawks.

The first round was full of Blue Devils. Crotty's running mate up front, Max Quinzani, was the third pick, going to the Boston Cannons. Quinzani is a Massachusetts native.

Long-stick middie Parker McKee went No. 4 to Long Island.

A couple of Cavaliers followed them, with Virginia defender Ken Clausen going fifth to Denver and midfielder Brian Carroll off to Chesapeake.

The Machine later pulled off the draft's first trade, sending the No. 7 pick to Toronto for goalie Doc Schneider, midfielder Josh Sims and the No. 9 pick. The Nationals picked Notre Dame goalie Scott Rodgers at No. 7.

"We needed to get another goalie, and we think [Rodgers] is terrific," Nationals coach Dave Huntley said. "He's got size, quick hands."

The Machine took Martin Cahill, a midfielder out of Delaware, at No. 9.

"We wanted to add a little depth, and we got the guy we wanted at nine," Hiller said. "We also got two players who can help us down the road."

Moments after the first trade, Toronto dealt the No. 8 overall choice to Denver for the 10th and 17th picks. Denver took North Carolina midfielder Sean DeLaney with the eighth pick.

Toronto was happy to move down. It figured Syracuse attackman Cody Jamieson would still be there at the 10th pick.

"We knew we were going to get Cody," Huntley said. "We thought we had a chance to get [Stony Brook long pole] Steven Waldeck at 17, and we did. We kind of got lucky. To get that 17th pick, it was kind of a free pick. We're very impressed with [Waldeck]."

Bryant midfielder Andrew Hennessey went to Denver at 11, and Boston took Johns Hopkins attackman Steven Boyle to close out the second round.

College teammates went back-to-back three times in the first 14 picks. On top of the Quinzani-McKee and Clausen-Carroll doubles in the first round, the Machine took UMass defender Diogo Godoi to begin the third round, and Boston followed with Minutemen attackman Jim Connolly.