Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Brett Kennedy and Brendan Curry selected in PLL Draft

Two former members of the Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse team were selected in the Premier Lacrosse League Draft on Tuesday night.

Brett Kennedy and Brendan Curry will both be continuing their careers at the game’s highest level after the fourth annual PLL college draft.

Kennedy was taken in the first round with the sixth overall pick by the defending champion Chaos LC, while Curry was taken in the second round with the 13th overall pick by Atlas LC.

There was certainly much to celebrate last night for many families last night, but I’m not sure any did it better than the Kennedy family cheering on Brett’s selection from their backyard bar setup at the family home in New Jersey. Not a bad way to watch your son’s lacrosse dreams become a reality:

Both situations look like good landing spots for the Orange alumni.

Chaos is in desperate need of defensive help since one of their starting close defenders, Army’s Johnny Surdick, is currently on military leave. Given that, using their first pick on Kennedy was an easy move. As of now, Brett is one of only three active close defenders on Chaos’ roster, so it looks like he’ll be playing an important role right away for the defending champs.

Atlas have a loaded roster and an offensive rotation that might be difficult for Brendan Curry to crack. However, they did struggle last year with creating/initiating offense from the midfield, so it’s quite possible that Curry’s skillset being built around pure speed and quickness and an ability to shoot downhill with both hands is exactly the kind of thing that Atlas can make good use of.

After all, Brendan was the first offensive midfielder taken in this draft from a strong group that included Nakeie Montgomery, Jonathan Donville and Jack Hannah. Atlas had their pick of any of those guys at that spot, and they went with Brendan. They clearly liked what they saw.

Jakob Phaup went undrafted on the night, as only one face-off specialist was taken in the entire draft. Although, it wouldn't be surprising at all to see him sign somewhere as an undrafted free agent soon as the run up to the season gets kicked into high gear.

One other Syracuse note is that last week, Cannons LC signed former ‘Cuse goalie Drake Porter from the player pool to compete for their starting goalie job.

Lots of Orange in the pros; that’s what we like to see. Congratulations to Brett and Brendan!