The 2018 Major League Lacrosse season kicked off last weekend with games in New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia. Dallas Rattlers goalie Blaze Riorden was named Warrior Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts against the Chesapeake Bayhawks. Kevin Cooper racked up 10 points for the Charlotte Hounds against Boston and was named Warrior Offensive Player of the Week.
Blaze Riorden, G, Dallas Rattlers
Warrior Defensive Player of the Week
The Rattlers earned a 15-9 win over the Chesapeake Bayhawks on Saturday night with Riorden in net.
Riorden, 24, made the first start of his professional career and had 16 saves on 25 shots on goal for a .640 save percentage. 18 of the 25 shots he faced came from at or near his crease and nine of his saves came on shots from Myles Jones, Matt Danowski and Steele Stanwick.
Riorden had previously played in parts of five games for the Rattlers since 2016. A Rochester-area native, he was drafted by the Rattlers in the sixth round of the 2016 Collegiate Draft out of Albany, where he graduated as the program’s all-time leader in saves.
Kevin Cooper, A/M, Charlotte Hounds
Warrior
Offensive Player of the Week
Charlotte Hounds midfielder Kevin Cooper was named the Warrior Offensive Player of the Week for Week 1. He led the Hounds in a 25-7 rout of the Boston Cannons in the opening game of the season on Saturday.
Cooper, 27, had a career-high seven goals and three assists for 10 points, becoming the first player in franchise history to record 10 points in a single game for Charlotte. Cooper also led the Hounds with 12 shots on net. He scored twice in the first quarter, once in the second, three times in the third and once in the fourth in just his third game with the Hounds.
Charlotte acquired Cooper from Chesapeake on June 27 last season in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2018 Collegiate Draft. He was a second-round selection by the Bayhawks in the 2013 Collegiate Draft out of Maryland and played 45 games between Chesapeake, Ohio and Atlanta from 2013-17.
