Three Cavaliers Selected in First Round of Major League Lacrosse Draft

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June 1, 2006

Fairfield, Conn. – Five members of the Virginia’s national champion men’s lacrosse team were selected in the 2006 Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft Wednesday night at Sacred Heart University. In addition, three other former Cavaliers were also chosen. Virginia had more players drafted than any other program.

Midfielder Kyle Dixon, attackman Matt Ward and defenseman Michael Culver were among the first seven players selected in the first round. Midfielder Matt Poskay went in the second, while midfielder J.J. Morrissey was chosen in the third round. In addition, defenseman Steve Holmes, a standout on UVa’s 2005 Final Four squad and the boys lacrosse coach at Charlottesville’s Monticello High School, was picked in the third round. Joe Yevoli and Nathan Kenney, who transferred from UVa to Syracuse, we tabbed in the second and fourth rounds respectively.

Dixon was selected by the Baltimore Bayhawks with the second pick in the draft behind top pick Joe Walters of Maryland who was chosen by his hometown team, the Rochester Rattlers. Like Walters, Dixon won’t have to travel far from home to play professionally. He hails from Millersville, Md., which sits between Annapolis and Baltimore. Dixon ran on the first midfield throughout his career and had a tremendous season in 2006 that was capped by him being named the USILA Midfielder of the Year and a first-team All-American. He scored a career-high 41 points to rank fourth nationally among midfielders. He finished second in the country behind teammate Drew Thompson in assists by a middie with 21 and one was of only two midfielders to score 20 goals and add 20 assists this season.

Ward was also chosen by the Bayhawks two picks later and will remain teammates with Dixon on the professional level. He was the leading scorer for Virginia this season for the third year in a row with 42 goals and 67 total points. Ward earned first-team All-American honors and was named the USILA Player of the Year this spring. He scored five goals against Massachusetts in the championship game of the NCAA tournament, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He set a tourney record with 16 goals.

Both Dixon and Ward are among the five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy as the top collegiate player this season.

Culver was picked by the expansion Chicago Machine with the seventh pick of the first round. A tremendous cover defensemen, he consistently shut down some of the nation’s top attackmen and was named the USILA Defenseman of the Year in recognition of his outstanding play. He was also named first-team All-American and to the NCAA Championships All-Tournament team. The Cavaliers ranked 10th nationally in defense this season, giving up an average of just 7.59 goals per game. His 39 ground balls this year were second among the team’s defensemen.

A proven goal scorer, Poskay was the second selection in the second round (12th pick overall) by the Boston Cannons. He set a school record for most goals by a midfielder with 41 this season and was the leading scorer in the nation among middies with 47 points. He scored 12 goals in the NCAA Championships, including a career-high five against Massachusetts in the championship game. For his career he scored 88 goals, the second most by a midfielder in Virginia history. Poskay becomes the sixth former Cavalier on Boston’s roster. He joins John Christmas, Ryan Curtis, Conor Gill, Billy Glading and David Jenkins in Boston.

Holmes was the first selection in the third round (22nd overall) by the expansion San Francisco Dragons. He was a three-year letterman and two-year starter on defense for the Cavaliers. He started in two Final Fours (2002, 2005). He played his final season at UVa in 2005 and led the team’s defensemen with 43 ground balls.

Holmes is joined on the Dragons by Yevoli, who played at Virginia from 2002-04 before transferring to Syracuse this season. Yevoli, the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2002, scored 82 goals and added 48 assists at Virginia. He was third on Syracuse this season with 24 goals and 42 points. They become teammates in San Francisco with three key members of UVa’s 2003 national championship squad–Ned Bowen, Chris Rotelli and Trey Whitty.

The Rochester Rattlers selected Morrissey with the seventh pick of the third round (28th overall) and Kenney with the seventh pick of the fourth round (38th overall). Morrissey was one of the most unheralded players throughout his career and played a key role on two national championship teams (2003, 2006). He was one of the team’s captains this year and was third on the team with a career-high 62 ground balls. Morrissey also scored five goals this season and assisted on six others. Kenney graduated from UVa in 2005 and used his final year of eligibility at Syracuse where he had five goals and 27 ground balls. A.J. Shannon, one of the leading scorers on the Cavaliers’ 2003 championship team, is in his fourth season with the Rattlers.

Complete draft results are below.

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

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

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

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

Round 5
42 Chicago- Adam Goodwin, Denver
43 Denver- Sean McCarth, Hofstra
44 New Jersey (from San Francisco)- Jason Cappadoro, Stony Brook
45 Los Angeles- Devon Britts, Rutgers
46 New Jersey- Jon Birsner, Navy
47 Philadelphia- Joseph Canuso, Villanova
48 Rochester- Adam Civalier, Nazareth
49 Boston- Ryan Danehy, Dartmouth
50 Long Island- Adam Blechman, Penn
51 Baltimore- Matt Russell, Navy