Boston, Mass.-Major League Lacrosse announced Monday its weekly award winners for the week ending August 8, according to Commissioner David Gross. The Toronto Nationals' John Grant Jr. earned his first Offensive Player of the Week recognition of the 2009 season. Long Island defender Nicky Polanco was also awarded his first weekly recognition of 2009 as the Defensive Player of the Week, and for the second straight week, Washington's Peet Poillon was recognized as the Cascade Rookie of the Week.

Playing in his first MLL game since hoisting the Steinfeld Trophy in the 2008 Championship Game, John Grant Jr., the League's reigning MVP, proved he still has game. Grant Jr. scored 5 goals in just one half of play to lead his Nationals to an impressive 16-10 victory over the Denver Outlaws. After scoring a single goal early in the first quarter, Grant Jr. lit up Denver for four of Toronto's five second quarter goals. Grant Jr. sat out the entire second half, watching his team close out the regular season with a big win over the League's the number 1 seed.

The Long Island Lizards clinched the fourth and final playoff spot after a big victory over the Chicago Machine. While Long Island's offense only scored 13 goals, it was enough for the win, thanks in large part to defensive efforts of Nicky Polanco. Guarding Chicago attackman Kevin Leveille, Polanco held the Machine's leading points and goal scorer without a point in the contest. This was the first time that Leveille has been held without a point since an August 5, 2004 game versus the Baltimore Bayhawks, thus ending the longest scoring streak in MLL history at an impressive 65 games.

Washington, which also had hopes of attaining the fourth playoff spot, did all that they could to earn a postseason appearance. In just the second regular season game of his career, rookie Peet Poillon tallied a hat trick, bringing his MLL career total to 7 goals. The rookie played a critical role in the Bayhawks victory by scoring both the game-tying goal and game-winning-goals, to cap off a 6-goal run during the final quarter of play. Thanks to the near last-second heroics of Poillon, the Bayhawks defeated Boston by a score of 14-13. Unfortunately, Long Island's victory over the Machine on Saturday eliminated Washington from playoff contention, despite the Bayhawks remarkable victory over Boston on Thursday.

While Poillon will have to wait until next year for his chance to play in the postseason, it would certainly seem as though the Bayhawks have discovered a new offensive weapon.

John Grant Jr. and his #2 seed Toronto Nationals will now look to their semi-final matchup against Polanco and the #3 seed Long Island Lizards at 3:00 PM ET on Saturday, August 22. Polanco will get another shot to shut-down one of the league's top scorers in Merrick Thomson, or perhaps John Grant Jr. Regardless, this matchup game should provide more than enough action between some of the League's best offensive and defensive players.

Tune in to ESPN2 to catch the excitement, and to watch the 2009 New Balance Championship Game Sunday, August 23 at 1:00 PM ET.

2009-08-10