The 2019 Major League Lacrosse rookies have enjoyed an impressive start to their careers and combined to make a large impact of the league in a short time frame. Eight rookies were selected to play in the 2019 MLL All-Star Game.

Not every rookie has enjoyed the same level of quick success, however. Two individuals — Tate Boyce and Bradley Voigt — did not make their MLL debuts until Week 7. And while it took a long time for them to see the field, they quickly made their marks thanks to highlights that went viral in the lacrosse community.

“I’m not someone who wants attention, but it’s cool to be a part of the conversation as a professional and not be, ‘He played one game and didn’t do anything,’” Voigt said. “Being undrafted, it was my first professional shot. It was crazy.”

At Providence College, Boyce was a two-time Big East Goalkeeper of the Year and earned All-Big East first-team honors four times. He was selected by the Cannons in the 2019 MLL Rookie Selection, a special player acquisition path where any player not selected by any of the current six MLL teams was available to be drafted.

Being drafted by the Cannons allowed Boyce to stay local — he will stay with Providence as a graduate assistant in 2020 — but his path to playing time was blocked by Nick Marrocco.

“It’s transitioning from being the guy for four years to competing and doing whatever I could to ensure an active roster spot and compete with Nick,” Boyce said. “[Cannons assistant coach] Lars Keil works with the goalies. Coach [Sean] Quirk is a goalie guy. It’s been a cool opportunity to come into a situation with those three guys who are knowledgeable about the position. It’s a constant conversation with me, Nick, Quirk, Lars, and we’re getting ready for guys like [Rob] Pannell in New York or John Grant Jr. in Denver.”

Boyce did not play at all in Boston’s first six games of the season, and it looked like it wouldn’t happen in the seventh game, either.

The Cannons and Blaze were involved in a shootout with a slim goal differential. With one minute remaining and the Cannons up by one goal, however, Marrocco was penalized for a delay of game.

“Watching that sequence, there was a ton of emotion,” Boyce said. “I see the flag, and I’m like, ‘Oh that’s a killer. Terrible time to serve a penalty.’ And my next thought is, ‘Wait, does Nick have to serve the penalty?’”

On the man-up, Atlanta moved the ball to Randy Staats, who was at goal-line extended on the bottom right. Staats threw a skip pass across the crease to Shayne Jackson, who was alone on the bottom left. Jackson caught the pass and shot, but Boyce, sliding across the crease, was able to catch the shot and preserve the one-goal lead.

“We talked in our man down that they like to run a 3-3 man up,” Boyce said. “Staats is an incredible feeder. When he gets it on the wing, they look inside a ton. They have great off-ball guys. They’re very similar to our offense. Heavy Canadian influence. Going up against our guys in practice helped prepare us for that.

“I preach to young guys you have to throw your hands to the back pipe,” he added. “A lot of guys want to quick stick it to the back pipe. I was just throwing the head of my stick and my hands there first, then whip your head around.”

Even with the save, the game wasn’t over, so Boyce didn’t have time to celebrate in the moment. When he got back to his phone after the game, however, it was evident how special the moment was.

“Major League Lacrosse posted on Instagram and Twitter. Everyone was tagging me in it,” he said. “Then, the context where it was my first action all season, to come in cold, that was where everybody was amazed and had such a reaction. My phone was blowing up: texts, mentions, tags. It’s still blowing up. I hopped on the plane to come back to Providence. You take it off airplane mode and 30 notifications come in.”

The Cannons also had a link to the other viral rookie moment of Week 7.

As a senior at Syracuse, Voigt led the team in scoring with 35 goals and nine assists. After achieving his dream of playing at Syracuse, his next goal was to play professionally. While he said he received calls from some MLL coaches, he went undrafted.

A dejected Voigt briefly moved to California for the month of June and roomed with Syracuse teammate and Cannons rookie Tyson Bomberry. Bomberry urged Voigt to work out with him to the chagrin of Voit. Bomberry persisted, however.

“He said, ‘You never know when you’d get a call and get picked up randomly,’” Voigt said. “I said, ‘Why am I giving up on it already?’ I continued to work out like I was continuing to play.”

Voigt said he received a call from Rattlers coach Bill Warder asking if he had any interest in playing this season, because the Rattlers were interested, but they did not see Voigt’s name in the player pool.

Once the Rattlers finally added Voigt, he had a quick turnaround, but said the transition was easier thanks to the Rattlers locker room.

“It’s weird of me to say since I’ve only been a part of the team for a week, but the locker room is so close. Everyone gets along so well,” he said. “The guys took me in. It was amazing how the guys treated me. I think that’s why I want that win so badly. I know the guys and the coaches want it. That’s the next goal.”

Voigt’s role against the Bayhawks was as a crease attackman. In the second quarter, Voigt found himself the beneficiary of a failed clear thanks to a tip from his teammates. Getting into position to ride, Voigt picked up the ground ball behind the cage and rolled the crease with Chesapeake goalie Niko Amato following him. Voigt faked a shot to the far pipe, and Amato matched his stick. Voigt hadn’t shot, however. Instead, he wrapped the ball behind his back and into the net for his first MLL goal.

“It seemed like I was going slow motion. It felt like I was holding my stick in the air,” Voigt said. “As soon as I saw [Amato] take one more step and one more jump, I knew I had the whole other side. I quickly kept it there and flung it around the world. I looked, and it was hitting the back of the net. That whole sequence is something I’ll never forget.”

Voigt was happy to score, and he was even happier that his teammates were excited for him.

Adding to moment were the messages he received from MLL legends, including a tweet by John Grant Jr. that simply said, “That’s filthy!!!”

“For John Grant Jr. to tweet that at me and to play against Lyle [Thompson], its surreal to me,” Voigt said. “I grew up looking up to those players and their play style and how they’ve treated the game of lacrosse and why they play lacrosse.”

Voigt also received a text message from his cousin, former MLL All-Star goalie Brett Queener, now with the Premier Lacrosse League’s Chrome.

“He texted me saying, ‘Unreal goal. It looked like we were playing in the backyard,’” Voigt said. “We would always play on mini-goals and try to do trick shots all the time. That’s what it felt like. That’s why it happened. I was just having fun. I let the game come to me and let it go.”

Voigt and Boyce both enjoyed memorable debuts that generated a lot of attention. While both players said they are making sure to enjoy the moment, they both said they can’t rest on these highlights; they need to produce more in order to help their teams.

“The biggest thing I want next is a win for the Rattlers,” Voigt said. “That would feel even better than the goal. Just this week getting back to work and focusing.”

“You enjoy it,” Boyce said. “Certainly, you play into the social media and get it out there. It’s good for the Cannons brand, good for me, good for Major League Lacrosse and professional lacrosse, but then it’s ‘What’s the next thing?’”