July 12, 2008

from staff reports

For the Rochester Rattlers, spreading the wealth was the team's main key to success on Saturday night as nine different players scored a goal in their 19-6 victory over the Washington Bayhawks at PAETEC Park.

For the Bayhawks, it matched a franchise record for fewest goals scored in a game. They were held to six goals in a 9-6 loss against Long Island during the 2006 season.

Joe Walters, Jeff Zywicki and Colin Doyle each scored three goals for the Rattlers while three other players added a two-goal effort.

The Rattlers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter and held Washington scoreless for the first 15:16 until a Matt Bocklet tally ended the run. From there, the Rattlers never looked back en route to their second win in the last three games.

Brendan Healy scored two goals to lead the Bayhawks while Andrew "Buggs" Combs scored a goal, giving him 100 for his career.

The Rattlers outshot Washington by a 46-41 margin.

Boston 13, Long Island 12
For the last seven years, the Long Island Lizards and the Boston Cannons have played in some epic battles against each other. Saturday's game at Harvard Stadium was no exception as the Cannons won a back-and-forth affair with a 13-12 victory over the Lizards.

John Christmas scored the game-winning goal with just five seconds left to break a 12-12 tie, scoring his off a feed from Tom Zummo past goalkeeper Matt McMonagle.

Matt Poskay scored a career-high six goals to lead the Cannons while rookie midfielder Paul Rabil tallied two goals. Zummo scored a goal with two assists while Christmas was named as the Bud Light MVP with his first game-winning goal of the season.

Attackmen Frank Resetarits and Tim Goettelmann each led the Lizard offense with three goals while face-off specialist Peter Vlahakis won 23 of 29 face-offs and tallied 11 ground balls.

It was the Cannons' fourth win in the last five games.

Los Angeles 16, Denver 6
Over the last three games, Los Angeles rookie Kevin Huntley has been the leader of a Riptide offense which has averaged over 16 points per game during that stretch. His latest effort gave the Riptide a 16-6 victory over the Denver Outlaws at The Home Depot Center on Saturday evening.

The two-time reigning Cascade Rookie of the Week, Huntley scored four goals and added three assists to earn his third straight Bud Light MVP award. Over the last three games, he has scored 14 goals with 4 assists.

Huntley was one of three Riptide players to record a "hat trick" in the victory. Michael McDonald scored three goals with an assist while Greg Downing added a three-goal performance.

The Outlaws, who were held to the second-lowest point total in the team's history, were led by Brendan Mundorf, who scored two goals and two assists. Drew Westervelt added a two-goal effort in the loss.

The Riptide outshot Denver by a commanding 63-32 margin and won 16 of 26 face-offs in the win.

San Francisco 17, Chicago 14
The San Francisco Dragons scored first and continued to score winning their second of the season over the Chicago Machine 17-14.

Newly claimed Dragon attackman Xander Ritz rocked Chicago with the first goal off midfielder Matt Lalli's pass in the first 2 minutes of the game. Chicago evened up on a power play goal by midfielder Terry Kimener four minutes later which was immediately answered in the next 8 seconds as Dragons' midfielder Greg Gurenlian won the face-off to hit MLL All Star attackman Jake Byrne who fired into the net garnering his 4th 2 point goal of the season. Byrne now leads the MLL in 2 point goal conversions.

Dragons' defenseman Matt Cassalia ran a ground ball pickup in the defensive end all the way down to score unassisted. Midfielder Bill McGlone picked up his first of three goals off a Byrne feed. And with that the Dragons were up 5-1 in the first 10 minutes and never lost their lead. Chicago picked up two more goals in the first quarter which were matched by goals from Dragons' midfielders McGlone and Lewis.

Chicago crept back in the second quarter, outscoring the Dragons 5-3 with 2 goals coming on power plays. The score at half was Dragons 10 to Chicago 8.

In the second half, Dragons continued their successful transition game by scoring 6 of the 7 goals off midfield play. The Dragons defense stepped up hard in pressuring the Machine, limiting their offense to 6 goals.

Dragons' McGlone finished the game with 3 goals and one assist and garnered the Bud Light MVP of the game award. Byrne led the Dragons with 5 points: 2 goals, 1 2 point goal and 1 assist. Midfielder Sean Lindsay had 2 goals and one assist as midfielders Tim Booth, Ratcliff and attackman Ritz all posted 2 goals each in the win.

MLL All Star defenseman captain Eric Martin posted one goal and scooped up 6 ground balls. Defenders Steve Holmes and Matt Cassalia also converted unassisted goals. Specialist Gurenlian was 17-35 on face-offs, led the team with 14 ground balls and had 2 assists. Captain goalie Matt Vallone had 14 saves.

Chicago's attackman Mike Leveille was the team's leading scorer with 5 points: 3 goals and 2 assists. Kevin Leveille and Kimener each had 4 points in the losing effort. Goalie Mike Gabel had 20 saves.

Dragons' Head Coach Tom Slate was pleased with the win. "It was a good win for us. We were consistent where we needed to be and the guys played hard. We look forward to carrying this into next week against Denver."

The Dragons (2-6) will face the Outlaws (6-3) for the third time this season on Saturday, July 19 at Spartan Stadium. Face-off is 7 PM. Chicago (2-7) will host Los Angeles Riptide on Sunday, July 20 at Toyota Park at 4:30 pm (CT).

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THURSDAY
Philadelphia 16, New Jersey 11
For the defending MLL champion Philadelphia Barrage, the expression "two heads are better than one" could be a way to describe their game against New Jersey on Thursday night after a 16-11 victory over the Pride at Yurcak Field.

Peter Trombino was named as the Bud Light MVP after scoring a game-high five goals while Matt Striebel added a four-goal effort for the Barrage, who won their third game in a row.

Coming off a record-setting performance against Long Island last week, the Pride were held to just five goals in the second half after battling to a 6-6 draw in the first half. Merrick Thomson, the league's leading scorer, was held scoreless for the first time this season and had a nine-game goal-scoring streak snapped.

Led by Brett Moyer and Brian Spallina, the Barrage defense limited the Pride to just 41 shots and tied a league record by not drawing a penalty.

Goalkeeper Brian Dougherty made 13 saves for Philadelphia while Andrew Corno won 15 of 31 face-offs with seven ground balls.

Stephen Peyser led New Jersey with a game-high five goals while rookie attackman Matt Danowski added three goals with an assist.

Matt Baran made 18 saves for New Jersey, who were outshot by a 57-41 margin.