Boston, Mass. (August 13, 2009) – Major League Lacrosse announced Thursday that Boston Cannons face-off man Chris Eck has been selected as the 2009 Warrior Most Improved Player of the Year, according to Commissioner David Gross. The award was based on the votes submitted by the head coaches and general manager of each of the League's six teams.

Last season, Eck, selected by the Cannons with the 38th overall pick in the 2008 MLL Collegiate Draft, appeared in just a single game for the Cannons, going 23 of 37 at the face-off X versus Denver's Geoff Snider in the Cannons final regular season game.

Eck ranks third all-time in Division-I lacrosse history, and first in Colgate history, in face-off wins with a total of 658. - This four-time All-Patriot League honoree also owns the top three single-season win totals in Colgate lacrosse history, with his career best year coming in 2008 when he won 193 face-offs.

This year, Eck, appeared in all twelve regular season games for Boston, winning 196 of 359 face-off attempts and collecting 70 groundballs. His 196 victories were second to only Washington's Alex Smith, who had 217 face-off wins on 368 attempts.

Eck also scored five goals this season, including the game-winning goal in Boston's May 30th victory over the Chicago Machine and two of which came in Boston's decisive 22-11 victory over the Chicago Machine on June 15th.

All-Time Most Improved Players of the Year
2005 - Andrew "Buggs" Combs, Rochester Rattlers
2006 - John Christmas, Boston Cannons
2007 - Spencer Ford, Los Angeles Riptide
2008 - Merrick Thomson, New Jersey Pride
2009 - Chris Eck, Boston Cannons

Eck received three first-place votes and tallied 18 points, while his Cannons' teammate Sean Morris finished second in the voting with 15 points.

Eck, Morris, and their #4 seed Boston Cannons will face the overall #1 seed Denver Outlaws in the first semifinal matchup of the day on Saturday, August 22 at 12:00 PM ET. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2HD.

2009-08-13