Fairfield's Joseph Marra Taken by Chicago Machine in MLL Draft

Fairfield's Joseph Marra was selected in the seventh round of the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft with the 37^th overall pick by the Chicago Machine.  Marra is the ninth player in program history to be drafted in the MLL, and joins Greg Downing (2007) as only the second Stag to be taken in the Collegiate Draft.

Marra started all 14 games in net for the Stags this season and finished with a career-best 150 saves, the 10th most in a single-season in program history.  His .597 save percentage on the year ranked him second, behind only Scott Rodgers (Notre Dame), who was selected the most outstanding player of the Final Four, and who Marra helped the Stags defeat, 10-8, in Houston during the regular season.  Marra finished the year with a goals-against average of 7.9, good for fifth in the nation. 

The Machine is 3-1 on the young MLL season, defeating Toronto 14-13 in Canada on Saturday.  Chicago is next in action on June 12 when it plays the Long Island Lizards in Albany, N.Y.

A First-Team All-ECAC Selection, Marra was selected to play in the NEILA North-South Game, making eight saves in his 30 minutes of action. He also backstopped the Stags man-down defense, which was sixth in the nation, killing 75 percent of its man-down situations on the year.

Marra is the sixth Stag to be picked in an MLL Draft (collegiate or supplemental) in the past four years.

Fairfield is a member of the ECAC Lacrosse League and posted an 8-6 record during the 2010 campaign.  Under two-year head coach Andy Copelan the Stags have gone 15-12, with the first back-to-back winning seasons in over a decade.  The Stags finished tied for third in the ECAC with a 4-3 mark.