Featured Image Photo Credit: Pretty Instant
Justin Ivey, MLL Correspondent & Editor
Lacrosse is Awesome
The final game of the 2017 season for both the New York Lizards (7-7) and Charlotte Hounds (6-8) and each team needed a win, and a Rochester loss to have a chance of making the playoffs. New York took care of business, but it would be all for naught as Rochester won a close game against the Machine to claim the last of the four spots. The big story wasn’t who made the playoffs, but rather the end of a decorated career. Faceoff wizard Greg Gurenlian announced his retirement at the beginning of the season and finished his 12-year career with the most faceoff wins at 2,024. In his last Major League Lacrosse game he went an outstanding 20 of 33 at the circle, and his faceoff dominance in Saturday’s contest was one of the reasons New York came away with the win. Final Score: New York – 17, Charlotte – 14.
The first quarter started with a bang. All the talk was about Gurenlian at the circle, but Brendan Fowler (1A) beat him on the opening faceoff, quickly ran down field and found an open Ryan Brown (3G) on the right side. Brown easily scored from 12 yards out on a textbook low to high shot. The whole sequence of events took only five seconds. New York quickly answered on the next possession. Paul Rabil (1G, 2A) ran down the side and let the ball fly. Forty seconds into the game, and both teams stood at one goal. Charlotte would find some momentum and score the next two. Kevin Crowley (2G) found the back of the net first on a perfect assist to the middle from Matt Rambo (1G, 2A) and three minutes later John Crawley (3G) put the Hounds up two with an off-balance rip to the top corner. New York took the momentum right back, scoring the next three goals in under two minutes. Rob Pannell (3G, 3A) got the first goal dodging from behind; Will Manny (2G) the second cutting through the middle catching a beautiful feed; and Joe Walters (2G, 1A) the final. With 4:16 remaining in the first quarter and New York led 4-3. Crowley got his second of the game to tie it up with another assist from Rambo, and Charlotte had a chance to go up one heading to the second quarter with a man advantage but couldn’t capitalize. After getting called for an over and back after a bad pass, New York picked it up and quickly moved towards the net. Rookie long pole Austin Pifani (1G), got it and let one rip from the middle, scoring with no time left on the clock. At the end of the first quarter, New York led Charlotte 5-4.
New York quickly started the scoring in the second quarter. Joe LoCascio (3G, 1A) found the net just 35 seconds in. Six goals for New York and six different scorers. John Haus (4G, 1A) found himself wide open on the next possession and got the goal back quickly for Charlotte. Not to be outdone, LoCascio came down on the very next possession and let fly a lefty shot from two-point land that made it through traffic to find twine. The two-point goal gave the Lizards an 8-5 advantage. The goal lit a fire under New York.
Pannell went off for the next two goals, the first on the next possession and the second almost nine minutes later, on a beautiful spin move from the side of the net. The defense held strong, forcing Charlotte to turn the ball over more than a few times. Matt Gibson (3G) scored on the powerplay with 2:31 remaining on the assist from Pannell to wrap up the scoring in the second. At halftime, New York led Charlotte 11-5.
New York extended their lead with the first goal in the third quarter. Tommy Palasek (1G, 1A) put the ball in the net at 3:44 dodging from the side. Charlotte cut into the lead a little with the next two goals. John Haus got the first dodging straight to the cage, and Brown the second. Over the remainder of the quarter, New York would continue the stingy defense and get both goals back. Manny got his second of the game with 5:12 left; and Walters scored on the power play with 4:36 remaining. At the end of the third quarter, New York would extend their lead against Charlotte 14-7.
Charlotte made it interesting in the fourth quarter, scoring four unanswered over the first 5:46 to try and get back in the game. J. Haus scored first, just 37 seconds in dodging from up top. Just over two minutes later, Will Haus (1G, 1A) got his lone goal of the game dodging into an unsettled defense after a quick clear. On the next possession, Crawley picked up a dangerous rebound off the post and quickly buried it. Just about two and a half minutes later, it would be J. Haus again. Charlotte was now only down three, after starting the quarter in a seven-goal hole. LoCascio temporarily stopped the onslaught 21 seconds after the J. Haus goal. Spinning around near the two-point line, his hands got free and he fired a cannon. But Charlotte wasn’t done. Rambo found the net for the first time just 25 seconds later, catching the ball behind and executing a perfect question mark dodge. Only 1:22 later, Crawley would make it a two-goal run, and Charlotte was now down only two with 7:06 remaining. New York’s defense would finally find a way to stop the Charlotte momentum, and put together a two-goal run of their own. Gibson would get both. The first he scored cutting down the middle catching the feed from Pannell and the second he found himself open in the middle to catch the assist from Walters. With 4:23 left in the game, New York had regained a comfortable four goal. J. Haus would score the last goal of the game, but it was too little too late for Charlotte. Final Score: New York – 17, Charlotte – 14.
Although New York would not make the playoffs in 2017, Greg Gurenlian would go out with a “W” for his final career game, his friendly smile and affection for the fans.
Justin Ivey, MLL Correspondent & Editor
Lacrosse is Awesome