Major League Lacrosse conducted its annual supplemental draft on Wednesday afternoon and former Richmond All-American goalie Benny Pugh went No. 1 overall to the Boston Cannons.
Pugh, who led NCAA Division I with a 6.10 goals against average and a 66.1 save percentage in 2017, played one game with Florida last summer but was not placed on the Launch’s 23-man protected roster. He was selected by Florida in the fifth round of last year’s MLL Collegiate Draft.
Pugh is the third goalie on Boston’s roster, joining Tyler Fiorito and Tom Carey. Fiorito has been Boston’s starter the last two seasons after coming over from Chesapeake. After leading Ohio State into the national title game last year, Carey was selected in the eighth round by Denver but did not see any game action and was traded to Boston, which finished with a league worst 3-11 record last season.
With the continued overlap with the National Lacrosse League schedule and this summer’s Federation of International Lacrosse Men’s World Championship in Israel during the month of July, the supplemental draft will help teams shore up depth for the 2018 season.
With the No. 2 pick, Atlanta picked up some needed firepower for its attack by reacquiring attackman Dylan Donahue, who scored 19 points in 10 games for the Blaze last summer. Earlier in the day, Atlanta dealt attackmen Jesse King and Randy Staats to Dallas for the three selections in the upcoming collegiate draft, and also sent midfielder James Pannell to Boston for the No. 10 overall pick in the collegiate draft.
Charlotte picked up midfielder Adam Osika with the third selection. Osika, an Albany graduate, played in four games for Atlanta last summer and had two goals and an assist in a 19-18 victory over Charlotte on June 3.
Chesapeake grabbed former New York defenseman Luke Duprey with the No. 4 pick. Duprey, who helped Duke win a pair of national championships, played in eight games with the Lizards in 2016.
With the No. 5 pick, Boston continued with a defensive mindset by selecting former Virginia All-American Tanner Scales. Scales was drafted by Denver in the seventh round of last year’s collegiate draft.
Dallas, which relocated from Rochester in the off-season, made its first pick in its new home a familiar one, picking up former Villanova midfielder Jack Curran at No. 6. Curran played in one game with the Rattlers last summer, scoring a goal against Atlanta.
With the No. 7 pick, Florida picked up former Atlanta attackman Tom Moore. The Binghamton product had four goals in four games as a rookie with Atlanta in 2017.
At No. 8, Denver selected defenseman Chris Fennell. The Navy product played in five games with Chesapeake last summer and registered nine groundballs and three caused turnovers.
Rounding out the first round of the supplemental draft was defending league champion Ohio taking former Denver attackman Ryan Ambler. The former Princeton captain had seven goals and four assists in seven games with the Outlaws last year.
New York had traded away its first round pick and did not make a selection until the second round when it picked up defenseman Greg Danseglio. The former U.S. U19 player spent three years at Virginia before earning third team All-America honors at Maryland in 2016. He played in 12 games for Rochester last summer in the MLL.
First Round Selections
1. Boston: Benny Pugh (G)
2. Atlanta: Dylan Donahue (A)
3. Charlotte: Adam Osika (M)
4. Chesapeake: Luke Duprey (D)
5. Boston: Tanner Scales (D)
6. Dallas: Jack Curran (M)
7. Florida: Tom Moore (A)
8. Denver: Chris Fennell (D)
9. Ohio: Ryan Ambler (A)
A complete list of selections is available on majorleaguelacrosse.com