Nims No. 1 Overall Pick In MLL Draft

HOBOKEN, N.J. – Senior Kenny Nims was selected by the Chicago Machine with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 Brine Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft Wednesday night. Nims will team up again with former SU teammate Mike Leveille as part of the Machine's attack unit.

Overall, four of the top nine picks in the draft were members of the Orange's 2009 national championship team. In addition to Nims, defenseman Sid Smith (sixth overall to Toronto), midfielder Dan Hardy (eighth to Denver) and midfielder Matt Abbott (ninth to Washington) were also selected in the first round.

Nims was a first-team All-American and finished second in the nation in scoring this season at 4.11 points per game. He scored 32 goals and had 42 assists for a total of 74 points. Nims tallied eight goals and seven assists to earn 2009 NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player honors, including the tying goal with 4.5 seconds left in regulation to help lead the Orange to a 10-9 overtime win against Cornell in the national title game. For his career, Nims tallied 93 goals and 175 points.

Smith was a second-team All-American in 2009 and led an Orange defense that listed fourth nationally in goals-against average (7.39). Smith often marked the opposing team's top attackman and he started all 36 games in his two years at Syracuse after transferring from OCC. Smith made a key play in overtime against Cornell in the NCAA Championship game, stripping Ryan Hurley to start the sequence that resulted in the game-winning goal.

Hardy was SU's leading midfield scorer this year with 25 goals and 18 assists. Hardy tied his career high with five points three times this season (vs. Albany, Army and at Loyola) and he ended his career with 136 points (83g, 53a) in 64 games. Hardy assisted on SU's NCAA title-winning goal when he dished the ball to Cody Jamieson for the deciding tally.

Abbott, a 2009 Tewaaraton Trophy finalist, was also a 2009 first-team All-American He led the Orange this season with 77 ground balls. He also has 12 goals and 11 assists. Abbott made of the one of most famous passes in school history Monday when he threw the ball behind his back in transition to Nims for the game-tying goal in the national championship game. Abbott finished his career ninth all-time at Syracuse in ground balls (212).

Wednesday night's draft featured five rounds and 42 total selections. It was held at the Stevens Institute of Technology and televised on ESPNU.

Syracuse University Athletics

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