Photo Courtesy of Major League Lacrosse

BOSTON -- John Grant and Alex Smith, two of the most decorated athletes in University of Delaware men’s lacrosse history, are continuing their outstanding play on the professional level.

On Tuesday, Major League Lacrosse announced that Grant (at right) and Smith, teammates for the Rochester Rattlers, were each named to the All-MLL team with Grant also being selected as the league’s Offensive Player of the Year and Smith picked as the league’s Face-Off Specialist of the Year. The teams were selected from a vote of the league head coaches and general managers.

The player of the year honor is nothing new for Grant, an eight-year MLL veteran who earned the award for the second straight year and for the third time in his career. Grant led the league in goals and scoring during the regular season with team-record 47 goals and 13 assists for 64 points.

Smith, a two-year veteran of the league, earned Faceoff Specialist of the Year honors for the second straight season after setting a league record with 249 faceoff wins and leading the league in faceoff pct. with a winning mark of 63 percent. He also ranked second in the league with 94 groundballs.

Grant and Smith led Rochester to a league best record of 9-3 and the MLL Eastern Division title. Rochester will take on the Philadelphia Barrage in the MLL semifinals this Saturday, Aug. 23 at 12 noon at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Mass. Denver will take on Los Angeles in the other semifinals. The winners will meet in the MLL title game Sunday at 1 p.m. in a game to be televised live on ESPN2.

Grant, who also earned MLL Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2001 and 2007, is the only player in league history to win three Player of the Year awards and only the second to earn the honor in consecutive seasons. He earned league Offensive Player of the Week honors three times during the season and has tallied 91 goals over the last two seasons.

A native of Peterborough, Ontario, Grant was the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Player of the Year in 1999 when he led the nation in scoring and helped Delaware advance to the NCAA quarterfinals.

A native of Timonium, Md., Smith owns virtually every NCAA faceoff record and was a three-time All-American, leading Delaware to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in school history during the 2007 season.

Joining Grant and Smith on the All-MLL team were attackmen Kevin Leveille (Chicago), Merrick Thomson (New Jersey), midfielder Brian Langtry (Denver), Matt Striebel (Philadelphia), and Joe Walters (Rochester), defensemen Eric Martin (San Francisco), Brodie Merrill (Rochester), and Kyle Sweeney (Philadelphia), and goalkeepers Mickey Jarboe (Los Angeles) and Rob Scherr (New Jersey).