May 31, 2006

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Navy All-American lacrosse players Jon Birsner (Levittown, N.Y.) and Matt Russell (Madison, Conn.) were among the 51 players selected in the 2006 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft held Wednesday night at Sacred Heart University. Birsner was the 46th overall pick and the fourth selection for the New Jersey Pride. Russell was picked up by the Baltimore Bayhawks as the 51st and final selection in the draft.

Birsner and Russell may be put on the their team's active rosters for this weekend's games. The Pride will be on the road this Saturday where they will face the Philadelphia Barrage, while Russell's Bayhawks travel to Colorado to face first-year program the Denver Outlaws on Saturday evening. Birsner and Russell, who graduated just a week ago from the Academy, are among five former Navy lacrosse players who currently appear on MLL rosters. Sean Donnelly (Class of '92), Chris Pieczonka (Class of '05) and Graham Gill (Class of '05) are listed on the L.A. Riptide roster. Meanwhile, it marks the second-consecutive year in which the New Jersey Pride have drafted a Navy player. Last year, Gill was selected by New Jersey as the first player in the second round and seventh player overall.

Birsner garnered Second-Team All-America recognition after leading the Mids to their third-consecutive Patriot League Championship and third-straight NCAA Tournament bid. For the second-consecutive year, he paced Navy in scoring, producing 54 points this spring on 18 goals and 36 assists. He became only the fourth player in Academy history to break the 100-assist barrier when he led the Mids to an opening-round win over Lehigh in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, where he aligned himself with some of the Navy greats - Jeff Long (149 assists), Paul Basile (129 assists) and Mike Buzzell (111 assists). Now a two-time All-American, Birsner was named the 2006 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, was a unanimous First-Team All-Patriot League selection and was named the Patriot League Tournament MVP after turning in two goals and six assists in wins over Lehigh and Army. He closed out his career at Navy as the program's sixth all-time leading scorer with 154 points and fourth on the assists leader board with 105.

Named a 2006 Third-Team All-American, Russell is just the third goalkeeper in school history to be named a three-time All-American. A three-time First-Team All-Patriot League selection and two-time Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, Russell anchored Navy's defense which has been ranked No. 1 nearly the entire spring. Russell, meanwhile, owned a nation's-best 5.45 goals-against average this spring, setting the NCAA single-season GAA mark which was previously set (5.70 GAA) by Trevor Tierney of Princeton in 2001. Meanwhile, he also etched his named into the record book as the NCAA's career goals-against average leader, posting a three-year 6.28 GAA, bettering the previous record of 7.73 set by Rich Scherr of Johns Hopkins from 2000-03. Last week, Russell was named the winner of the NAAA Sword for Men, presented to that man of the graduating class who is considered by the Association's Athletic Council to have personally excelled in men's athletics during his years of varsity competition. He is the 19th different lacrosse player to win the award, which was established in 1893, and the first since Adam Borcz in 2001.

Round 1
1 Rochester (from Chicago) - A Joe Walters (Maryland)
2 Baltimore (from Denver) - M Kyle Dixon (Virginia)
3 Chicago (from San Francisco) - A Sean Morris (UMass)
4 Baltimore (from Rochester [from LA]) - A Matt Ward (Virginia)
5 Baltimore (from Denver [from NJ]) - M Bill McGlone (Maryland)
6 Philadelphia - M Matt Zash (Duke)
7 Chicago (from Rochester) - D Michael Culver (Virginia)
8 Rochester (from Boston) - A Chris Unterstein (Hofstra)
9 Philadelphia (from Long IslandI) - M Greg Peyser (Johns Hopkins)
10 Rochester (from San Francisco [from Balt]) - D Jack Reid (UMass)

Round 2
11 Los Angeles - D D. J. Driscoll (Notre Dame)
12 Boston (from San Francisco) - M Matt Poskay (Virginia)
13 Baltimore (from Denver) - M Brendan Healy (Maryland)
14 Boston (from Chicago) - A Brett Bucktooth (Syracuse)
15 Baltimore (Compensatory pick) - M John Keysor (Hofstra)
16 Chicago (from New Jersey) - M Joe Boulukos (Cornell)
17 Denver (from LI [From Phil]) - M Geoff Snider (Denver)
18 Denver (from Rochester) - D Brett Moyer (Hofstra)
19 San Francisco (from Boston) - A Joe Yevoli (Syracuse)
20 Denver (from LI [from Phil {from LI}]) - M Casey Cittadino (Towson)
21 Denver (from Baltimore) - A Brendan Mundorf (UMBC)

Round 3
22 San Francisco (from Chicago) - D Steve Holmes (Virginia)
23 Rochester (from Denver) - M Greg Gurenlian (Penn State)
24 San Francisco - D Steven McElduff (North Carolina)
25 San Francisco (from Los Angeles) - M Kyle Dowd (Duke)
26 New Jersey - D Reyn Garnett (Georgetown)
27 Philadelphia - A Xander Ritz (Maryland)
28 Rochester - M J. J. Morrissey (Virginia)
29 Boston - M Dave Andrzejewski (Penn)
30 Long Island - M Jake Deane (UMass)
31 Rochester (from Baltimore) - M Brian Crockett (Syracuse)

Round 4
32 Baltimore (from Los Angeles*) - G Greg Havalchak (Rutgers)
33 San Francisco - M Brad Heritage (Dartmouth)
34 Long Island (from Denver) - A Pat Walsh (Notre Dame)
35 Chicago - A Dan Flannery (Duke)
36 New Jersey - M Dave Paolisso (Georgetown)
37 Philadelphia - M Pete Cannon (Georgetown)
38 Rochester - M Nate Kenney (Syracuse)
39 Boston - A Jamie Coffin (Dartmouth)
40 Long Island - D John Orsen (Hofstra)
41 San Francisco (from Baltimore) - D Michael Abou Jaoude (Bucknell)

Round 5
42 Chicago - M Adam Goodwin (Denver)
43 Denver - D Sean McCarthy (Hofstra)
44 New Jersey (from San Francisco) - A Jason Cappadoro (Stony Brook)
45 Los Angeles - D Devon Britts (Rutgers)
46 New Jersey - A Jon Birsner (Navy)
47 Philadelphia - G Joseph Canuso (Villanova)
48 Rochester - G Alex Civalier (Nazareth)
49 Boston - M Ryan Danehy (Dartmouth)
50 Long Island - D Adam Blechman (Penn)
51 Baltimore - G Matt Russell (Navy)
*Baltimore trades second round pick in 2007 Collegiate draft to Los Angeles for L.A.'s fourth round pick (32nd overall)

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