Greg Gurenlian (March 23, 1984) is a former professional

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact sport, full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initiall ...

player from Springfield, Pennsylvania of

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descent. He retired as a member of

Redwoods Lacrosse Club The Redwoods Lacrosse Club is a professional men's field lacrosse team in Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The Redwoods are one of the six founding members of the PLL for the 2019 season. Notable players include Matt Kavanagh, Myles Jones, Sergio P ...

of the

Premier Lacrosse League Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is an American professional field lacrosse league, composed of 8 teams. The league's inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major-market cities. The le ...

. He is the founder of The Face-off Academy, a place where young players are trained in faceoffs. He is also the owner of his

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page, called GregGurenlian. He is the only faceoff specialist to win the MVP in the MLL.

College career

Gurenlian was a four year letterman at

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, and was a co-captain in his senior year. He is second all time in ground balls and first all time in faceoff wins.

Professional career

MLL

Gurenlian was drafted by the

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in the 2006 MLL draft, where he played for two years before joining the

San Francisco Dragons The San Francisco Dragons were a professional field lacrosse team based in San Francisco and San Jose, California. From 2006–2008, they played in Major League Lacrosse and they ceased operations before the 2009 season due to the economic situati ...

. He played for them for two years before joining the Toronto Nationals and the

Chicago Machine The Chicago Machine were a Major League Lacrosse franchise from 2006 until 2010. The Machine, a men's professional field lacrosse team, played in Toyota Park from 2007 until 2009. Chicago played all its "home" games at various stadiums across t ...

for a year each. He played his final eight MLL seasons with the

New York Lizards The New York Lizards, originally the Long Island Lizards, were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) team based in Hempstead, New York, located on Long Island. They are original members of the MLL. They lost the league's inaugural game on June 7, 2001 to ...

. In

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, he set the MLL record for most ground balls in a season, most faceoff wins in a season and highest faceoff percentage in a season. He also won the MLL MVP and the

Steinfeld Trophy The Steinfeld Trophy was a trophy given annually to the winners of the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) championship. The trophy is contested in a 4-team playoff where the top teams (based on regular season record) compete in a single-elimination format ...

for winning the 2015 MLL Championship. He made the MLL all pro team six times and was an all star five times.

PLL career

In 2018, Gurenlian announced he would come out of retirement to join

Paul Rabil Paul Rabil (born December 14, 1985), is an American former professional lacrosse player and co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League. He played for the Cannons Lacrosse Club and Atlas Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League, as well as the ...

’s new

as a member of the

. On January 22, 2020, after one season in the PLL, he retired.

International career

Gurenlian was a member of the gold-medal winning

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at the

2018 World Lacrosse Championship The 2018 World Lacrosse Championship was the 13th edition of the international men's field lacrosse tournament for national teams organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL). As many as 50 countries were expected to compete in the ...

Netanya, Israel Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate ...

. He is the US record-holder for international faceoff percentage at a tournament with 81% wins.

References

External links

Faceoff Academy WebsiteGregGurenlian YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurenlian, Greg American people of Armenian descent Premier Lacrosse League players Lacrosse players from New Jersey Living people Penn State Nittany Lions men's lacrosse players 1984 births