Men's Lacrosse

Former Syracuse All-American Sergio Salcido selected No. 8 in 2017 Major League Lacrosse Draft

Ally Moreo | Photo Editor

Salcido scored three goals in a game twice this season, including his outburst at North Carolina on April 15.

The Florida Launch selected former Syracuse All-American midfielder Sergio Salcido with the No. 8 pick in the 2017 Major League Lacrosse Draft. The Launch picked Salcido’s former teammate, Nick Mariano, fourth in the draft.

An SU player has been drafted every year since the first MLL draft in 2001, and Syracuse was the only team in this year’s draft with two players to go in the first round.

Salcido, a former walk-on from Florida, didn’t score a single goal in his first two seasons at SU. As a junior in 2016, he broke out for 29 goals — second on the team — and earned Second Team All-American honors.

He was a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference honoree who hit two game-winners this season and led the Orange with 33 assists and 51 points. The shifty speedster rose from walk-on to one of the top facilitators on one of the nation’s top teams. He created match-up problems with an ability to go left or right, break down a defender and get his shot off despite his diminutive stature (5 feet, 7 inches and 166 pounds).

Salcido scored three goals in a game twice this season, including his outburst at North Carolina on April 15. In overtime, he delivered the game-winner, extending SU’s longest winning streak in six years.



Fellow midfielder Mariano, who was selected fourth overall by the Florida Launch, created a one-two punch with Salcido that opposing teams feared. Whether to double-pole them or leave Mariano with a short-stick defensive midfielder became one of opposing coaches’ most talked-about topics.

In 2016, four Syracuse players, Dylan Donahue, Brandon Mullins, Warren Hill and Tim Barber, were drafted.

The 2017 Orange, ranked No. 1 in the country for three straight weeks, fell last Sunday to Towson in the NCAA quarterfinals. SU failed to reach the Final Four for the fourth straight year and finished the season 13-3.





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