Diamonds in the rough. From Stephen Berger to Brett Queener, the best late round draft steals in lacrosse history.

For as much fun as it is to track the success of top draft picks, there’s nothing quite like the late round steal. When Brennan O’Neill goes number one and Connor Shellenberger goes two, fans stay laser locked on them to see who really has the better career, who is really the better pro, who scores more points, who wins Rookie of the Year, all that. But the more fun story is the Tim Troutner or Stephen Rehfuss going at the end of the draft and stealing the storylines. Tom Brady going in round six. Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy becoming a starter (or in lacrosse terms, Mr. Irrelevant Stephen Berger or Nick Ossello). While in other sports these stories are a bit more surprising and infrequent, in lacrosse it happens more often The pro lacrosse draft has been happening since 2001. 

Let’s find those hidden gems in lacrosse draft history. This isn’t meant to be exhaustive, just a few of the major names in the sport that got picked late relative to how many picks were in the draft. For Part One, we’ll look at each draft from the first ever in 2001 until 2009. Part two will cover 2010 through the launch of the PLL in 2019. Because the size of the draft changed over the years, each year also notes how many rounds the draft had, and how many picks per round. In each case, the players were picked in the final two rounds.

2001. Five round draft, six picks per round

Matt Striebel, Midfield, Princeton to Bridgeport Barrage (Round 4, Pick 1, 19th overall).

A member of the first class to go into the PLL Hall of Fame was taken in round four. That’s about as late of a gem as you can find. Striebel is 14th on the all time points list with 385, recently passed by Tom Schrieber. His 235 goals are 15th all time. His 171 games played, over 15 seasons, are tied for 5th all time. His 23 two point goals are 9th all time. His 127 assists are 19th all time. He is quite simply one of the best midfielders to ever play. 

2002. Five round draft, six picks per round

Nate Watkins, Midfield, Maryland, to Rochester Rattlers (Round 4, Pick 5, 23rd overall)

Watkins would go on to play ten seasons of pro lacrosse. His first two with Rochester, then two with San Francisco before joining Denver for the bulk of his career. He made the playoffs in six of his seasons, making it to the finals with the Outlaws three times. Another notable pick was Dan Chemotti who was taken by the Rochester Rattlers at the end of round five. Chemotti, now the head coach at Richmond, is regarded as one of the top coaches in the men’s college game.

2003. Five round draft, six picks per round

Dan Cocchi, Defense, Towson to Bridgeport Barrage (Round 4, Pick 1, 19th overall)

Sol Bliss, Defense, Syracuse to Rochester Rattlers (Round 4, Pick 2, 20th overall)

Cocchi played ten years of pro lacrosse. He actually played with Baltimore in 2004 and 2005, then was part of the Riptide in 2006. He stayed with New York from 2007 to 2012 before a brief stop in Denver, then finished his pro career in New York in 2013. He won an MLL title with the Bayhawks in 2004. Bliss would play eight seasons of pro ball as a defenseman in the MLL. The first five were with Rochester, and then three with the Hamilton Nationals. He logged the bulk of his minutes in 2007 and 2008 for the Rattlers, then in 2011 and 2012 for the Nationals. He won the title in 2008 with the Rattlers and played in the final in 2011 for the Nationals.

2004. Five round draft, six picks per round

Eric Martin, Defense, Salisbury to Rochester Rattlers (Round 4, Pick 2, 20th overall)

Peter Vlahakis, Faceoff, Fairfield to New Jersey Pride (Round 4, Pick 3, 21st overall)

Stephen Berger, Midfield, Washington College to Long Island Lizards (Round 4, Pick 6, 30th overall)

Eric Martin, E-Mart, played nine years of indoor lacrosse and 11 years of outdoor lacrosse, though his last three years of outdoor were light on games played. The bulk of his career was with Rochester and San Francisco. He was a fearless player, backing down from no one, and one of the best takeaway artists to ever play.  Martin won gold with Team USA in 2010. Peter Vlahakis is one of just seven players in history with over 1,000 faceoff wins. He had a ten year career. His record of 35 faceoff wins in a single game still stands. When he retired, he was the MLL’s all time faceoff wins leader. He also made an all star appearance. Mr. Irrelevant, Stephen Berger going last overall, had an outstanding pro career. He played seven years for the Lizards, then had a stop in Charlotte, a year in Boston, one more year in New York, then a year with Boston to close his career. His final year as a pro, 2014, was his highest scoring year with 41 points. His lowest total in a season he played a full year was his rookie year with 18 points. He had 20+ goals six times. He appeared in two title games with New York. 

2005. Five round draft, six picks per round

Chazz Woodson, Attack, Brown to Long Island Lizards (Round 4, Pick 1, 19th overall)

I don’t know if anyone tracks this, but I would bet Chazz Woodson is the all time leader in social media posts worded like “People forget about the fact that Chazz Woodson was a PROBLEM” with his highlight tape attached. Half of that post is a lie every time it’s posted. Nobody forgets. But yes, he was an all caps problem. Woodson was one the most electrifying players in MLL history, scoring from above, at, and even below GLE. In terms of point production, the numbers don’t jump off the page. But Woodson was a fan favorite and a top tier dodging weapon who found his way into mainstream sports.

2006. Five Round draft, 10 picks per round

John Orsen, Defense, Hofstra to Long Island Lizards (Round 4, pick 10, 40th overall)

Orsen made the move from attack to defense at Hofstra, not something commonly done. He played five years of defense with the Lizards, making it the title game in 2010. He played for and won the title with the Bayhawks in 2012. He went on to coach in the college game. 

2007. Five found draft, 10 picks per round

Jesse Schwartzmann, Goalie, Johns Hopkins to Denver Outlaws (Round 4, pick 9, 39th overall)

Schwartzmann played nine seasons in the MLL and is considered one of the best goalies of all time. In his career he totaled 1,488 saves, which ranks third all time, making 12.3 per game. His GAA of 11.28 is one of the best of all time, he was named Goalie of the Year twice, and had multiple seasons with a record setting sub-10 GAA. 

2008. Five round draft, 10 picks per round

Chris Eck, Faceoff, Colgate to Boston Cannons (Round 4, Pick 8, 38th overall)

Brett Queener, Goalie, Albany to Rochester Rattlers (Round 5, Pick 8, 48th overall)

Eck played seven seasons in the MLL and won 1,219 faceoffs in his career, an average of 16.7 per game. Of the Top 25 faceoff win leaders of all time, only Trevor Baptiste wins more per game. Eck is fourth all time in faceoff wins, was a four time all star, a first team all pro, and won the title with Boston in 2011. Queener played 12 years of pro lacrosse. He made 959 saves in his career. Queener won two titles and was an all star five times. He is best known for his athletic play outside of the net, often in the clearing game and even on offense.  

In doing this I stuck to just the collegiate draft, but it would be a dereliction of duty to not mention Kyle Hartzell here. Undrafted in the collegiate draft, Hartzell went in Round 7 of the Supplemental Draft to San Francisco. He would go on to a 16 year pro career, winning two MLL rings and representing Team USA three times. He was an all star seven times, and a surefire Hall of Fame player.

2009. Five round draft, There were some forfeited picks and comp picks, so rounds had different sizes

Garrett Billings, Attack, UVA to Toronto Nationals (Round 4, Pick 6, 33rd overall)

Donny Moss, Defense, Adelphi to Long Island Lizards (Round 5, Pick 3, 39th overall)

Billings was a prolific scorer both in college and the professional game. Indoors, Billings had three seasons of 100+ points with the Toronto Rock. He prioritized the indoor game; he went in the first round of that draft was a three time all pro indoors, so his outdoor production wasn’t as abundant, but he did have a 26 point season with the Hamilton Nationals. His career spanned ten years. Moss played 12 seasons of pro lacrosse outdoors, but only one for the team that drafted him. He made it to the title game as a member of the Hamilton Nationals in 2011, then back to back title games as a member of the Rattlers in 2014 and 2015. He last played for the Chrome in the bubble season in 2020. 

Plenty of late round steals to be had. Hall of fame players taken in the final two rounds of drafts, all pros, all stars, and more impact players. Look for Part Two of this piece, covering the drafts from 2010-2019, the drop later this week.