ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Major League Lacrosse's Boston Cannons announced their 25-man roster on Tuesday and a familiar name for Bates fans made the cut.

Kyle Weber '17 is one of seven midfielders on Boston's active roster heading into the 2020 MLL season. The Cannons and the league's five other teams will play a five-game regular season over the course of seven days, starting Saturday, July 18 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The top four teams will qualify for a two-day MLL playoff immediately following the conclusion of the regular season.

While no fans will be in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, games will air on ESPN's family of networks.

The chance to play professional lacrosse has been a long time coming for Weber, the 2017 USILA Division III Midfielder of the Year.

"One of the reasons why I always wanted to compete at the next level is to give my family, friends, my grandparents, an opportunity to watch me play again," Weber said. "So I'm really excited to have that opportunity and I hope we make the most of it, play seven games, and give them the opportunity to watch as much lacrosse with me involved in it as possible."

Since graduating from Bates, where he double-majored in economics and mathematics, Weber has been working at Nike and keeping his lacrosse game sharp. He was selected in the MLL Supplemental Draft by the Chesapeake Bayhawks in 2018, but suffered an injury on the first day of practice, ending his season before it started.

He returned to the Bayhawks in 2019 and performed well in camp but did not make the final roster, thus becoming a free agent.

One advantage Weber had signing with the Cannons this season is that the coaching staff is made up almost entirely of current and former NCAA Division III coaches. Head coach and director of player personnel Sean Quirk coached at Endicott from 1998-2015. And Weber got a chance to work out recently in front of Cannons assistant coach John Klepacki, the current head coach at Western New England University.

Weber made some key adjustments in order to make himself more valuable to professional teams like the Cannons. First among them was displaying a willingness to move from the offensive midfield to the defensive midfield. It is not a minor move, considering Weber played almost exclusively on the offensive side at Bates, finishing his career with 114 goals.

"Understanding I'm coming from a Division III school, when there's a lot of guys that are still playing lacrosse that played ACC ball or Ivy League or whatever, just swallowing my pride a little bit and doing whatever is needed to contribute to a team," Weber said. "That's kind of how I refocused my preparation. I've been doing less of my shooting that you probably saw at Merrill all the time (at Bates) and more just agility and general athletic training.

"So it's been a lot of fun, playing defense, getting on wings on face-offs. It has just uncovered a different layer of the game that I wasn't doing a whole lot of at Bates. So that's been something I've really embraced."

The lacrosse community is relatively small, and Weber credits long-time Bates head coach Peter Lasagna with being a tireless advocate for his professional career. Lasagna is thrilled that Weber's hard work is paying off.

"In a career filled with exceptional people, students and players, I put Kyle in the top 1 percent of all people I've ever coached," Lasagna said. "When you combine superior technique, speed, power with exceptional intelligence and a capacity to out-work everyone else, you get the Division III Midfielder of the Year.

"Kyle is one of the most natural leaders and committed teammates I've ever known. When your best player is your hardest, most focused worker, great teams emerge. He was an upper-level Division I player, an Ivy student, who chose Bates. He is ready for this remarkable opportunity."

The COVID-19 pandemic, of course, looms large over the improvised season. Weber described some of the league's protocols for player safety.

All incoming players must submit a negative test for the coronavirus to the league before they are allowed to arrive in Annapolis. Everyone involved in the six-team league will be staying at the same hotel, with no other guests. The stadium for every game is located just down the street from the hotel. Upon arrival, all players will be subject to a symptom check before entering the hotel. The league also mailed every player in the league a PPE kit in preparation for the season.

"Everything we could possibly need is at the hotel, such as catered meals," Weber said. "We're not allowed to leave."

For more information on Weber and the Cannons, fans can head to bostoncannons.com.