Princeton University Athletics
Boyle Plays For Fourth Major League Lacrosse Title
August 20, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
Ryan Boyle has always worn the No. 14, ever since the day he first set foot on Princeton's campus more than a decade ago.
With a big weekend in Annapolis, he could be halfway to his uniform number in major championships won.
Boyle, the Major League Lacrosse leader in assists this season, will play with the top-seeded Boston Cannons in the MLL semifinals tomorrow against the host team, the Chesapeake Bayhawks. The winner of that game will face the winner of tomorrow's other semifinal, between the Denver Outlaws and the Long Island Lizards, in the MLL championship game Sunday at 1 on ESPN2.
Boston went 8-4 during the regular season, which ended with a 16-15 overtime loss to the Bayhawks. In addition to Boyle, the Cannons also feature league MVP Matt Poskay and league Rookie of the Year Max Quinzani, not to mention Paul Rabil, the biggest name in lacrosse today.
As for Boyle, he has become on the league's veterans while putting together an important chapter of what will inevitably be a Hall-of-Fame career.
Boyle is the second all-time leading scorer at Princeton with 233 career points, 14 away from Kevin Lowe, who is already in the Hall of Fame. Boyle, as a freshman, assisted on the winning goal in overtime of the NCAA championship game, and he also led Princeton back to another NCAA final his sophomore year and the Final Four his senior year of 2004.
While an undergraduate, Boyle was a member of the 2002 U.S. team that won the World Championships in Perth, Australia, and he added a second World Championship last month when the U.S. won again, this time in Manchester, England.
Boyle has already won three MLL championships, all with the Barrage. He is one of two players in league history with at least 200 career assists, and his total of 202 is nine away from Connor Gill's career record. Boyle led MLL in assists this year with 25, seven more than the next best total in the league.
Should the Cannons win this championship, it would be the first for Boyle without having Matt Striebel as a teammate. Striebel played for the Chicago Machine this season, and the Machine did not reach the postseason.