Boston, Mass.-Major League Lacrosse (MLL) has announced its weekly award winners for the week ending July 18th, according to Commissioner David Gross. The Boston Cannons' Ryan Boyle has been named Offensive Player of the Week for the first time this season. Toronto's face-off man Geoff Snider also earned his first weekly honor of the 2009 season as Defensive Player of the Week, and Denver's Max Seibald took home the Cascade Rookie of the Week award, the first weekly honor of his career.

Boyle led his Boston squad to their season sweep of the Chicago Machine after a 17-10 victory this past Saturday, at Harvard Stadium. Boyle tallied a game-high 8 points, including 6 assists and 2 goals. After a tight first quarter, ending with both teams tied at 6, Boyle helped orchestrate a 7-goal streak, allowing Boston to shift into cruise control for their sixth win of the season and third over Chicago. Boyle contributed 5 points to the second quarter surge, including three assists and two goals; two of these assists came on power plays. Adding the icing to his already sweet game, Boyle found Rabil behind the two-pointer arch midway through the fourth quarter.

Boyle's 8-point performance earned him weekly honors for the 5th career time. The attackman first took home the weekly recognition in 2005, twice in 2006, and once in 2007. Boyle currently leads all players with 20 assists and 5 power play assists for the 2009 season.

Toronto's X-man, Geoff Snider, did it all for the Nationals en route to their domination of Long Island this past Saturday. Snider won 21 of 31 draws, a 67% winning percentage for the evening. He also racked up 17 groundballs, a season-high for groundballs for any players in a single game. The midfielder also scored twice in the first half of Saturday's game as well as an assist to Merrick Thomson. Snider has won almost 50% of his face-offs this season along with 12 goals and 6 assists.

This is the third career time that Snider has brought home weekly honors. The last time the league recognized Snider for outstanding play was back in week1 of the 2008 season. Previous to that, Snider earned player of the week in 2007, during the seventh week of play.

Rookie Max Seibald played exceptionally well amongst his fellow draft class this past weekend, earning himself the Cascade Rookie of the Week following a 2-goal game against Washington. Battling from behind, Seibald scored a key, short-handed goal in the third quarter that eventually led to Denver's victory over the Bayhawks, and subsequent a playoff berth for the 2009 New Balance Major League Lacrosse Championship Weekend. The rookie midfielder's second goal came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, an assurance goal that confirmed an Outlaw victory.

Seibald and the rest of his Denver squad will host the Long Island Lizards this Saturday at 9:00 pm ET. This will be an important game as Long Island currently sits second in the league. While Denver has already secured a playoff spot, don't expect Seibald and the others to let up and show mercy on the New Yorkers.

Snider and Toronto will host Boyle and his boys from Boston this Thursday at 7:30 PM ET. Toronto and Boston are third and fourth, respectively, in the league and should provide plenty of highlights in this potential nail-biter. Look for both Snider and Boyle to play pivotal roles for their teams as they contend for the remaining playoff spots.

2009-07-20