Tom Coyne, Correspondent Dallas Rattlers
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Photo Credits Featured Image: Pretty Instant
In week 10 of the 2019 MLL season, 0n Saturday night August 10th in the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, TX the Dallas Rattlers (3-7) defeated the New York Lizards (3-8). In front of 4,011 fans they would win their third consecutive game and celebrate their first victory at home. Final Score: Dallas 15—New York 11.
The win took the Rattlers out of the MLL cellar and kept their playoff hopes alive, with the Lizards now sitting in last place in the league.
The Lizards started out fast with Long Island native and MLL All-Star Justin Reh (2G) scoring at the 47 second mark of the first; followed by former Providence star Brendan Kearns (2G, 2A) in his first professional game scoring his first MLL career goal/point at the 2:22 mark; and just ten seconds later by last season’s MLL Offensive Player of the Year, Rob Pannell (2G, 2A) scoring with a laser of a shot off an assist from FOGO Greg Puskuldjian (21-28 FO, 1A, 10GB). This would give the Lizards a 3-0 lead and would be their biggest lead of the game only three minutes in, and they would not keep it for very long.
The Rattlers got on the scoreboard with a beautiful turn and burn low to high shot from former Syracuse star Bradley Voigt (4G, 2A) who was left undrafted out of college and picked up by Dallas in mid-season. Dallas would go on to score four unanswered goals to take the lead 4-3 and never trailed again in this battle of the basement. Kevin Crowley (2G, 1A) former Stony Brook U standout and the only player in history to be the Number One draft pick for both the MLL and the NLL, would knot the game up 4-4 on a highlight reel BTB goal with 4:39 left in the first frame, which would end in a 5-5 tie.
Just 43 seconds into the second quarter Southlake, TX native Bryce Wasserman (3G, 2A) would score his third goal of the game all of which were initiated from behind the cage at the X, to put Dallas up 6-5. Wasserman is coming off of a monster game last week when he scored seven points (5G, 2A) in the Rattlers 16-14 victory over the Atlanta Blaze (6-5) on August 3rd in Atlanta. The Lizards would tie it up one last time at the 4:04 mark of the second frame with a blast from former Bucknell star, Bethesda, MD native and former Rattler, Sean O’Brien (1G), his first of the season and as a Lizard, assisting on the goal was Crowley to make it a 6-6 contest.
Dallas would take the lead for good at the 7:31 mark in the second on a goal from Ryan McNamara (3G) squeezing it in on the skinny side between the pipe and the Lizards starting goal keeper Austin Kaut (15 SOG, 6SV, 9GA) putting Dallas in the lead 7-6, a lead which they would not relinquish.
Kaut would not play in the second half with the score 9-7 at halftime as New York would start their backup net-minder at the beginning of the third quarter, former Marist goal keeper Brian Corrigan (14 SOG, 8SV, 6GA). Dallas goal keeper Sean Sconone (21 SOG, 10SV, 11GA) played well considering the quick start the Lizards had, of course his D-poles did their jobs well with Jake Pulver (1CTO) pulverizing the Lizards attackers including fellow former Cornell alum Pannell, holding him to just four points, which if it was anybody but RP3 would be considered a great offensive game, but when it’s Pannell, well you’ve done great. The entire defense did, including Chris Keating (6GB, 2CTO); Greg Weyl (1GB, 2CTO); Craig Chick (3GB); Eli Salama (4GB); Ryan Fournier (1-2FO, 2GB), even their SSDM’s played well with Rochester, NY native and fan favorite, Donny Moss (1GB, 1CTO) leading the charge on several clears one which lead to a goal after some crisp passes started by Moss.
The big story though had to be the breakout performance of the offense, with the “Player of the Game” Voigt scoring a career high six points; and Wasserman scoring five points after last week’s seven point performance; along with hat tricks from two other Rattlers as well, Cody Radziewicz (3G); and Ryan McNamara (3G). Other contributing scorers were Kyle Buchanan (1G, 2A, 2GB), who was playing in his first MLL contest but is a seasoned veteran of the NLL where he is closing in on 400 career points; rookie from Duke Jake Seau (1G) looked great on transitions scoring on a fast break; Jack Curran (1A, 3GB) helped the cause with his hustle and bustle.
All played well including Ryan Beville; Lucas Wittenberg; and Adam Osika. Even Casey Dowd (7-28 FO, 3GB) despite being a bit “rusty” not having played since week one of the season, was able to win several key face offs going against one of the best in the league.
The Rattlers would outscore the Lizards in both the second and third quarters by a margin of 4-2 in each and both teams would score twice in the final frame with the final outcome: Rattlers 15—Lizards 11.
Statistically speaking Dallas lost at the face off dot only winning 8-30, but had only 10 turnovers compared to the Lizards 18; ground balls were 35 for New York and 34 for Dallas; and Dallas had more shots on goal 29 to the Lizards 21.
NEXT UP:
Both teams play next on August 17th and both are at home.
New York (3-8) hosts the Atlanta Blaze (6-5) at 7:00 p.m., EST at James M Shuart Stadium, in Hempstead, N.Y it will be televised on the Lax Sports Network www.laxsportsnetwork.com
The Rattlers will host the second place Denver Outlaws (6-4) in the Ford Center, at The Star, Frisco, TX at 8:00 p.m. EST. The Outlaws were knocked out of a three way tie for first on August 10th by the now sole owners of first place, the Chesapeake Bayhawks (7-3) by the score of 12-9 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, so you know they’ll be looking to get a big victory in the Big D. You can catch the action on www.majorleaguelacrosse.com
Keep on Laxin’
Tom Coyne, Correspondent Dallas Rattlers
Lacrosse is Awesome©