Chris Crane, Beat Writer Rochester Rattlers
Lacrosse is Awesome
The Rochester Rattlers (1-3) took on the Chesapeake Bayhawks (3-2) for their home opener at the Wegman’s Sports Complex in front of a crowd of 1,183 hopeful fans. Rochester would pick up their first win of the season downing the Bayhawks 18-14.
The first quarter would go back and forth for both teams. However, it would be the Bayhawks scoring first in just under a minute of play as Brendan Mundorf (Danowski) would score after 55 seconds of play. Rochester would strike next at the four minute mark with Jeremy Boltus (Ranagan) finding the back of the net making it a 1-1 game. Chesapeake’s Drew Westervelt would hit net on a power play goal at 6:24. Rochester would score the next two with Ned Crotty netting one at 8:24; followed up by Boltus grabbing his second of the night at 8:47 giving the Rattlers a 3-2 lead. Chesapeake would get one back just seven seconds later coming from face-off specialist Anthony Kelly unassisted at 8:54 making it 3-3. The Rattlers would take the lead back on a goal from Jordan MacIntosh at 11:22 making it 4-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Rochester would start the second quarter with a three-goal run started off by Kyle Denhoff scoring 33 seconds into the second. Rochester’s Ranagan would score at 4:54 mark; and Denhoff would get his second of the night at 6:13 on a power-play goal giving the Rattlers a 7-3 lead. The remaining minutes of the second quarter would again teeter back and forth between the teams. Danowski would get one back for the Bayhawks at 6:31 making it 7-4; and Rochester’s Jordan Wolf would hit the net making it 8-4 at 8:07. Joe Walters would find the back of the net for the Bayhawks at 9:33 bringing them to within three. Rochester’s Jesse King would hook up with Wolf at 11:53 making it a four goal game for the Rattlers. Danowski would score again at 12:41 putting the Bayhawks back to within three. Rochester would net the last goal of the quarter at the 14 minute mark from Crotty with his second of the night. The Rattlers would head into halftime with a 10-6 lead.
Boltus would get the scoring started for Rochester in the third quarter 28 seconds in for his third of the night (hat-trick) making it 11-6. Chesapeake got one back off Mundorf’s second goal of the night making it 11-7. Rochester would grab the next two goals from King with his second of the night at 5:13; followed by Wolf with his second at 7:36 giving the Rattlers a 13-7 lead. Chesapeake finally got on the board once again at 13:04 from Matt Bertrams making it 13-8. King would get the hat-trick for Rochester at 13:56 making it 14-8. The Bayhawks answered back just seven seconds later from Matt Mackrides at 14:03 making it 14-9. The Rattlers ended the scoring on Crotty’s hat-trick goal at 14:38 making it a 15-9 game heading into the fourth quarter.
Chesapeake would strike first in the fourth just 36 seconds in on a goal from Westervelt, his second of the night making it 15-10. Rochester would then rattle off the next two goals at 3:05 and 5:54 with Boltus and King both grabbing their fourth on the night putting them up by seven. Chesapeake would get their first run of night netting the next three goals. The first from Matt Abbott at 8:26; followed by Kelly only 20 seconds later with a two-pointer. Maloney would score the last goal of Chesapeake’s run at 9:10 making it 17-14 game. Rochester’s King would get his fifth goal of the night for the Rattlers at 13:15 and the final goal of the game. Final Score: Rochester 18—Chesapeake 14.
Rochester (1-3) will be back in action on Thursday June 2nd at home when they take on the Ohio Machine (4-1) at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and look to pick up win number two of the season.
Chris Crane, Beat Writer Rochester Rattlers
Lacrosse is Awesome