Major League Lacrosse notebook
07/11/05 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
MLL Offensive Player of the Week
Ryan Boyle, Attack, Philadelphia Barrage, 5-11, 180, Princeton (2004)
Boyle scored a league season-high ten points with five goals and five assists to lead the Barrage to their third win in the last four games with a 26-15 victory over Rochester on Saturday night ... The reigning Cascade Rookie of the Year, Boyle assisted on three of Philadelphia's first four goals as the Barrage jumped out to a 17-4 lead at half-time ... Boyle has already surpassed his goals total of last season and has 18 goals with 17 assists this season ... This is the first time in Boyle's career he has been named Offensive Player of the Week.
Cascade MLL Rookie of the Week
Benson Erwin, Midfield, Baltimore Bayhawks, 6-1, 200, Johns Hopkins (2005)
Erwin scored the first goal of his MLL career as the Bayhawks won their seventh straight game in their 19-8 victory over Long Island on Sunday afternoon ... Erwin's goal with 1:57 left in the second quarter gave Baltimore a 7-4 lead ... Erwin also added two ground balls in the win ... The fourth overall pick in June's Collegiate Draft, Erwin helped Johns Hopkins win its first NCAA title in 17 years this past Spring.
MLL Defensive Player of the Week
Chris Passavia, Defense, Boston Cannons, 6-1, 210, Maryland (2004)
Passavia held New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard to just one assist in the Cannons' 18-12 win over the Pride at Mercer County Park on Saturday afternoon ... It marked the third time in four games this season Hubbard has been held without a goal ... Passavia helped the Cannons hold New Jersey to just four goals in the first half en route to the six-goal victory ... It is the first time in Passavia's career he has been named Defensive Player of the Week.
HALFWAY SET TO CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND: Two of the four teams for New Balance MLL Championship Weekend have been determined as Boston (6-1) and Baltimore (7-0) clinched playoff berths this past weekend... The Bayhawks also clinched their fourth National Division title in the five years of the league on Saturday night as Rochester and New Jersey both dropped to 1-6 on the season with a pair of losses ... Baltimore remains the league's unbeaten team with a 7-0 record and will face the Cannons this Saturday night at Nickerson Field.
JULY 9 - BOSTON 18, @ NEW JERSEY 12: After being held without a point for the first time in 38 games last week, Boston A Conor Gill tied a career high with eight points on five goals and three assists as the Cannons rebounded from their first loss of the season with a convincing 18-12 victory over the New Jersey Pride at Mercer County Park ... The loss was the Pride's sixth straight after a season-opening win while the Cannons improved to 3-0 on the road this year ... Gill scored his five goals on just six shots to earn Bud Light Game MVP honors ... A Mark Millon scored three goals with an assist in the win for the Cannons as nine different players scored for visiting Boston ... M Chris Fiore also recorded a hat trick for the Cannons in the victory ... New Jersey A Scott Urick scored three goals in a losing effort for the Pride, who have lost 17 of their last 18 games, dating back to last season ... Making his second consecutive start, rookie GK Jay Pfeifer made 14 saves while allowing 18 goals ... Boston GK Chris Garrity rebounded from a poor performance last week to record 17 saves while Kevin O'Brien saw his first action of the season and made one save in the final 4:11.
JULY 9 - PHILADELPHIA 26, @ ROCHESTER 15: Philadelphia A Ryan Boyle recorded a career-high ten points by scoring five goals with five assists as the Barrage won for the third time in the last four games with a 26-15 victory over the Rochester Rattlers at Bishop Kearney Field ... With the Rattler loss, the Baltimore Bayhawks clinch the National Division title for the fourth time in the last five years ... The 26 points allowed by the Rattlers set a team record, eclipsing the previous mark of 24 set against Baltimore during last year's season opener ... Boyle was one of four players to score at least four goals in the win ... A Michael Springer and M Roy Colsey and B.J. Prager each added four goals for the visiting Barrage, who have won all three of their games this season on the road ... M Casey Powell scored two goals to go with three assists for the Rattlers in the loss ... Philadelphia GK Brian Dougherty made 19 saves in 52 minutes of play before being relieved by Mike Levin, who registered five saves ... Rochester GK Tillman Johnson allowed a career-worst 21 goals and made just 10 saves in the loss for Rochester ... After winning the National Division last year for the first time in team history, the Rattlers have started the 2005 season with six losses in their first seven games.
JULY 10 - @ BALTIMORE 19, LONG ISLAND 8: Baltimore A Tom Marechek scored four goals and added three assists as the National Division champion Bayhawks won their seventh straight game with a 19-8 victory over the Long Island Lizards at Unitas Stadium ... The victory allowed the Bayhawks to tie the league record for the best win streak in a single season, matching the mark set by Long Island during the 2002 season ... Marechek, who regained the league lead in points with the seven-point effort, recorded his sixth straight hat trick in leading the Bayhawks to their ninth straight regular season win, dating back to last season ... Leading by 8-4 at the intermission, the Bayhawks put together an 8-1 run at the start of the second half to seal the victory and sweep the season series from the Lizards ... Bayhawks A Gary Gait added three goals with four assists in the win, extending his streak of consecutive games with at least one goal to 35 straight games ... Making his return to the lineup, Baltimore A Mikey Powell scored four goals as nine different players scored goals for the Bayhawks in the win ... M Paul Cantabene won 21 of 29 face-offs in the victory for Baltimore while recording 11 ground balls ... A Tim Goettelmann and M A.J. Haugen led the Lizards with two goals each ... The eight goals scored by the Lizards were the fewest scored in the team's history and the one assist by Long Island set a team record for fewest assists in a game ... The Bayhawks won their third season series of the year with the victory over the Lizards ... GK Trevor Tierney made 17 saves while tying a season-best by allowing just eight goals ... Long Island GK Greg Cattrano made 18 saves in a losing effort before being relieved by Nick Murtha in the fourth quarter.
WE NEED MORE TURNSTILES: The 2005 Major League Lacrosse Wild West All-Star Showdown drew a leaguerecord 12,674 fans, marking the first time a game had an attendance of 10,000 or more ... The previous league record for single-game attendance was 9,683, which was set during Rochester Rattlers game against Long Island at Frontier Field on August 23, 2001 ... In two games played in Denver over the past two seasons, the average attendance has been 10,405 ... Last year's game between Baltimore and New Jersey drew 8,137 fans to INVESCO Field at Mile High.
ONE STREAK ENDS, BUT ANOTHER STREAK LIVES ON: Rochester was able to get its first win of the 2005 season when the Rattlers defeated the New Jersey Pride two weeks ago at Sprague Field ... The win snapped a five-game losing streak to start the season ... Meanwhile, the Pride has been unable to snap out of their current losing streak, which has grown to six games ... New Jersey, which set the league record for most consecutive losses with 11 last season, has lost 17 of its last 18 games ... The Pride have won the season opener in each of the last two seasons, but have failed to win a game after the opener.
SHANNON REACHES GOLDEN MILESTONE: Rochester M A.J. Shannon scored the 50th goal of his MLL career in the Rattlers' loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night ... He became the sixth player to score his 50th goal while in a Rochester uniform and the second player to do it this season ... A John Grant, Jr. scored his 50th career Rochester goal earlier this season ... A Ryan Powell is the team's all-time leader with 111 goals.
IF ONLY ...: At last year's Collegiate Draft, Rochester selected A Ryan Boyle with the second overall pick and the Barrage picked GK Tillman Johnson with the third pick in the first round ... After the draft concluded that night, the teams made a trade that might have changed the potential outcome of the season ... Boyle went on to score 17 goals with 28 assists in the Barrage's championship run, while Johnson led the league in goals against average and save percentage for the Rattlers, who made the playoffs for the first time since the 2001 season.
CAN WE PLAY EVERY GAME ON THE ROAD?: The Philadelphia Barrage have earned all three of their wins this season on the road ... However, the Barrage have only played twice at home this season, losing to Boston and Long Island ... Philadelphia just finished a five-game road trip with a 3-2 record, including back-to-back wins against Boston and Rochester.
LET'S TAKE IT OUTSIDE: The Philadelphia Barrage were the last team to score a two-point goal this season when M Doug Shanahan fired home a two-pointer in the Barrage's win over Rochester on Saturday night ... Baltimore leads the league in two-point goals scored, connecting on 11 goals from outside the 15-yard arc this season ... Rochester has scored four two-pointers this year.
THE DOC HAS RETURNED TO THE OFFICE: Since returning from the injured reserve list two weeks ago, Philadelphia GK Brian Dougherty has had two outstanding games ... Against Boston on June 30, "Doc" made 22 saves and allowed 13 goals as the Barrage handed the Cannons their first loss of the season ... Last weekend against Rochester, Dougherty made 19 saves and allowed just 10 goals as the Barrage won their third game in the last four tries ... Dougherty ranks third in the league in save percentage (57.1%) and fourth in goals against average (14.
... Dougherty was named the Warrior Goalie of the Year during the 2003 season.
THREE-HEADED ATTACK: The Philadelphia attack unit of Ryan Boyle, Mike Springer and B.J. Prager have combined to score 49 of Philadelphia's 98 goals, which is exactly half of their offensive production ... In addition, the trio have accounted for 24 of the Barrage's 55 assists, which is good for 43.6 per cent of the assists this season ... Against Rochester on Saturday night, the attack unit scored 13 of the team's 25 goals and also added eight assists in a 26-15 win ... Boyle ranks third in the league in points with 35, while ranking second in assists with 17.
SHOOTING THE LIGHTS OUT: In addition to all of their success this season, the Baltimore Bayhawks have also shown a great deal of improvement in terms of shooting percentage ... Last season, the Bayhawks connected on just 28.3 per cent of the shots they took ... In seven games this season, the Bayhawks are scoring on 37.5 per cent of their shots, which leads the league ... Baltimore is one of two teams to improve their shooting percentage from a year ago ... Long Island has had a slight increase in their shooting percentage, while the other four teams have seen their shooting percentage decline.
BAYHAWKS FLYING HIGH: The Baltimore Bayhawks continue to lead the league in most offensive categories, including goals, two-point goals and assists ... In addition, they have the leading individual goal scorer, two-point goal scorer and assists leader in the league ... A Gary Gait and Tom Marechek are tied for the league lead in goals with 25 each, while M Mark Frye has seven two-point goals this season ... Marechek is having his best season ever as he also leads the league in hat tricks (6) and points (41) ... M Paul Cantabene is leading the league for the second straight season in face-off percentage and ground balls, while GK Trevor Tierney is the league's best goalkeeper in save percentage and goals against average.
TURF TROLL AT IT AGAIN: Baltimore M Paul Cantabene has returned to his face-off form of a year ago as he currently stands as the league leader in ground balls, face-off wins and face-off percentage ... Cantabene has won 143 of 237 draws he has taken, winning 60.3 per cent ... Meanwhile, he has also recorded 68 ground balls in six games, including a league-high 15 loose balls against Long Island in Week Seven ... Last season, Cantabene set the single-season league record for face-off wins and ground balls with 238 and 156, respectively ... Cantabene holds the career lead in ground balls (473), face-off wins (873) and face-off win percentage (.547).
MORE ON THE TURF TROLL: Baltimore M Paul Cantabene is reaching some career milestones that could be obtained this season ... The former Loyola Greyhound is just 16 ground balls away from 500 for his career, while he is 106 face-off wins away from 1,000 for his career ... Entering this week, Cantabene has a career face-off percentage of .550, which is first on the all-time list.
CAN WE PLAY ALL OF OUR GAMES IN MAY?: After splitting their two games in the month of May, the New Jersey Pride had a tough month of June, losing all four games during the month and dropping their record to 1-5 ... In fact, New Jersey has not won in the month of June since June 27, 2003 against the Boston Cannons in a 17-13 triumph, a stretch of eight games ... The last July win for the Pride came during the 2003 season as well when New Jersey handed Bridgeport a 22-14 defeat on July 31, 2003 ... New Jersey has lost 16 of its last 17 games over the last two seasons.
HOW ABOUT GOING ON A ROAD TRIP?: The Long Island Lizards started a fivegame road trip when they took on Baltimore this past weekend ... Long Island will face all five of the other MLL teams during the road trip, which will conclude with a game at Boston on August 4 in the Cannons' home finale ... Long Island is 1-2 on the road this season with a win against Philadelphia on June 4 ... The Lizards are the only team in Major League Lacrosse with seven road games during the regular season.
ROOKIES CONTINUE TO MAKE THEIR MARKS: The MLL Collegiate Class of 2005 is having a stellar season thus far ... So far this year, Rochester A Jason Doneger has been the leader with eight goals and two assists ... Meanwhile, New Jersey M Kyle Harrison has scored five goals with two assists since joining the Pride ... Boston A John Christmas has scored three goals with one assist in helping the Cannons to a 6-1 start ... A pair of midfielders have also made an impact at the face-off "X" as Long Island's Jack deVilliers and New Jersey's Andy Corno have become their team's primary face-off specialists ... Baltimore M Benson Erwin scored his first career goal for the Bayhawks in their 19-8 win over Long Island.
GETTING CLOSER TO 300: Boston A Mark Millon is getting closer to becoming the first player in MLL history to record 300 career points ... With three goals and an assist against New Jersey on Saturday, Millon is just 19 points away from reaching the milestone ... He is also nine goals away from reaching 200 goals for his career and has taken over first place on the league's career list with a six-goal advantage over New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard ... Millon is in his first season with Boston after playing for Baltimore during the last four years ... He is a two-time Warrior Offensive Player of the Year award winner, winning the award during the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
JOINING THE CLUB: Earlier this season, Rochester A Ryan Powell became the fourth player in MLL history to reach 200 career points ... Powell joins Boston A Mark Millon, Rochester M Casey Powell and New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard as the other players in this exclusive club ... Boston A Conor Gill and the Baltimore duo of A Tom Marechek and Gary Gait are the next players who could be eligible to join this list ... Gill is just two points away from reaching 200, while Marechek needs three points and Gait needs four points to reach the milestone ... Long Island M Jay Jalbert is also within striking distance with 191 points after scoring a goal in the Lizards' loss to Baltimore.
REACHING THE CENTURY MARK: Baltimore M David Curry, Long Island M A.J. Haugen and Philadelphia M Roy Colsey have become members of the MLL's 100-goal club this season ... Curry recorded the milestone when he scored against Rochester on June 26 at Unitas Stadium ... He has 104 career goals, ranking 13th on the league's career list ... Meanwhile, Haugen and Colsey both reached the 100-goal mark this past weekend ... Haugen scored two goals in Long Island's loss to Baltimore, giving him an even 100 goals for his career ... Colsey, who has battled through several weeks of injury this season, scored a seasonhigh four goals to reach 101 for his career ... A Chris Massey is next on the list with 86 career goals.
TUG OF WAR: The battle for the career lead in assists has gone back and forth this season between Rochester A Casey Powell and Boston A Conor Gill ... At the beginning of the season, Gill held the career lead, but after Powell recorded a three-assist performance against New Jersey on June 30, Powell took over the lead with 116 career assists and added three more against Philadelphia this past weekend ... Gill was held without a point for the first time in 38 games in Boston's 15-14 loss to Philadelphia on June 30, but rebounded with a three-assist performance against New Jersey and has 117 career assists ... Only four players have ever recorded 100 or more assists in league history ... In addition to Gill and Powell, current Rochester A Ryan Powell (101) and former New Jersey A Jon Hess (100) are the other players to reach the milestone for their career.
BLEEDING ORANGE: The Rochester Rattlers have 10 players on their roster who played their college lacrosse at Syracuse, including 2005 Collegiate Draft pick Scott Ditzell ... In addition to the 10 former Syracuse players, Coach B.J. O'Hara served as an assistant coach for the Orange from 2002 to 2003 ... Five of Rochester's starters played at Syracuse, including the brother tandem of Casey Powell and Ryan Powell.
BLEEDING MORE ORANGE: The Bayhawks' starting attack unit of Gary Gait, Tom Marechek and Mikey Powell all hail from Syracuse ... Gait finished his college career with the Orange in 1990 after a stellar career which included 192 goals and 61 assists ... Marechek finished his career in 1992 ranked seventh on the career ledger for points with 258, scoring 182 goals in his four years ... Powell finished his SU career last year as the school's career leader in points with 307 ... His 157 career assists rank 4th alltime in Syracuse history ... The three have combined to score 66 of their 145 goals this season, while accounting for 36 of the team's 81 assists.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... WE WANT MORE!: This year's class of draft-eligible players included five seniors from national champion Johns Hopkins University ... The Blue Jays had the most seniors in this year's draft class, followed by Drexel, Georgetown, Massachusetts, Syracuse and Virginia, which each have three draft-eligible seniors on the roster ... Of the five Blue Jays, four of them were selected in the Collegiate Draft led by M Kyle Harrison, who was picked with the first overall pick ... M Benson Erwin was selected fourth overall by the Bayhawks, while D Tom Garvey and A Kyle Barrie were taken in the second round.
CAN WE TURN THIS AROUND?: A year ago, the Philadelphia Barrage turned a 1- 11 season into a 7-5 record during the regular season and the MLL championship ... This year, the New Jersey Pride are hoping to do the same ... After tying the league record for fewest wins and most losses in a single season, the Pride are looking to turn things around ... The 1-11 record included 11 straight losses after a season-opening win over Philadelphia in the Barrage's debut in the City of Brotherly Love ... New Jersey is currently on a six-game losing streak and stands in a tie for second place in the National Division along with Rochester.
LET'S PLAY ON THE ROAD: During the 2004 regular season, wearing a road uniform was not a bad thing as the road team went 23-13 (.639) during the regular season ... Baltimore became the first team in MLL history to complete a perfect season away from home, winning all six of its games away from Johnny Unitas ® Stadium at Towson University. Every team won at least once on the road last year ... New Jersey earned its only win of the season at Philadelphia in the season opener at Villanova Stadium .before losing five straight road games to end the season ... They snapped that streak with the seasonopening victory at Long Island on May 20. So far this season, the road team has a 12-9 record in games ... The road team had won five straight games before Baltimore's home victory over the Lizards on Sunday afternoon.
STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT: Beginning the season on a good note does not necessarily guarantee an MLL championship at the end of the season ... Last year, the Boston Cannons won their first four games before falling to Long Island ... The Cannons advanced to the New Balance MLL Championship Game before losing to Philadelphia by a 13-11 margin ... Conversely, the Barrage began the season with a 2-5 record before ending the year with seven straight wins, including a pair of victories to clinch the team's first league championship ... It was a complete turnaround for the Barrage, who had a 1-11 record in 2003. For the Philadelphia Barrage, defending their MLL title has gotten off to a rough start with a 1-4 beginning to the season, but Philadelphia has won back-to-back games on the road to tie with Long Island for second place in the American Division ... They became the third straight team to lose their first game after winning the title the year before ... The only team to earn a win in their first game as champions is Long Island, which won by 21-8 over Bridgeport to start the 2002 season.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!: Since the end of the 2004 season, several high-profile players have made a move from one team to another, including three of last year's league award winners. In Philadelphia, three of the league's award winners were traded to division rival Long Island, including Warrior Goalie of the Year Greg Cattrano, who was traded for the second straight season. Meanwhile, Baltimore's all-time scoring leader was traded as A Mark Millon was sent to the Boston Cannons in exchange for GK Trevor Tierney after four seasons in a Bayhawks uniform. In addition, Tony Resch made his return to Major League Lacrosse as he was named head coach of the defending MLL champion Barrage ... He was an assistant coach for the Bayhawks for two seasons before stepping aside after the Bayhawks' 2002 championship season ... Also, former Barrage assistant coach Jim Mulé was named as the Long Island Lizards coach, replacing Vinnie Sombrotto ... Sombrotto coached the Lizards last year, guiding them to a 6-6 record.
MR. CONSISTENCY: For the last 35 games, the Baltimore Bayhawks have been able to count on one player to score at least once - A and Player-Coach Gary Gait ... The 1991 Syracuse graduate has scored in every game since July 18, 2002 against the New Jersey Pride ... He is still just over a season away from reaching the league mark of 46 straight games with a goal, set by New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard. Gait's former teammate, Boston A Mark Millon, is also approaching Hubbard's mark ... He has scored a goal in 31 straight games, dating back to the beginning of the 2003 season ... He ranks third on Baltimore's all-time list for games with a consecutive goal behind Gait and A Tom Marechek. New Jersey A Scott Urick was held scoreless for the first time in 25 games against the Bayhawks on June 5 ... His streak ends as the sixth longest in MLL history. The streaks do not include postseason games.
MLL RETURNS TO ESPN2 FOR 2005: For the third straight season, Major League Lacrosse returns to ESPN2 as the "Game of the Week" package features 12 exciting games during the season ... Games will air on Tuesday afternoons beginning at 4:00 p.m. unless otherwise designated ... The Rochester Rattlers will take on the Philadelphia Barrage this week on Thursday night at Villanova Stadium as the Barrage returns home from a five-game road trip ... Each team will appear on the broadcast at least three times during the regular season ... The defending MLL champions will appear four times.
NEW BALANCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND MAKES RETURN TO BOSTON: For the second straight season, the New Balance Major League Lacrosse Championship Weekend returns to Boston University's Nickerson Field on August 19 and 21 ... Last year, over 15,000 fans came to home field of the Boston Cannons for three games, including an MLL-postseason record crowd of 8,273 for the title game between the Philadelphia Barrage and the Cannons. The format for selecting the teams will remain the same for the 2005 season, as the two division champions and two teams with the next best records (regardless of division) advance to play for the league championship ... The championship game will air live on ESPN2 on Sunday, August 21 at 1:00 p.m. in the finale of the MLL Game of the Week package.
BALTIMORE BAYHAWKS (7-0): The Bayhawks clinched their fourth National Division title in the last five years before their game against Long Island this past weekend ... With losses to Rochester and New Jersey, the Bayhawks were able to clinch the divisional title regardless of the result of their game against the Lizards ... A Tom Marechek recorded his sixth straight hat trick in the win over the Lizards ... Enjoying his best season ever, the former Syracuse attackman is tied for the league lead with teammate Gary Gait with 25 goals ... Marechek has 41 points, which leads the league ... Marechek has scored 25 or more goals in each of his five seasons and is just nine shy of matching his personal best of 34, which he scored during the inaugural season ... He was named the Bud Light MVP for the second straight game and the third time this season ... Gait is just five goals away from recording his fourth 30-goal season and it would be his third straight season with more than 30 goals ... Gait ranks second in the league in points behind Marechek with 25 goals and 12 assists ... Nine different players scored for the Bayhawks in their win over Long Island ... So far this season, 15 different players have scored a goal ... Last year, Baltimore had 14 players score a goal during the season ... Baltimore has scored 20 or more points in five of the seven games this year and has scored the first goal in all seven games this year ... Rookie M Benson Erwin scored the first goal of his brief MLL career in the second quarter of the win over Long Island ... In addition, rookie M Will Cutler made his MLL debut in the win, taking three shots while coming off the bench ... The Bayhawks will wear their dark uniforms for the first time this week when they travel to Boston ... Both the Bayhawks and the Cannons wear their white uniforms at home as opposed to other teams, who wear their dark uniforms at home games.
BOSTON CANNONS (6-1): The Boston Cannons returned to their winning form with an 18-12 victory over the New Jersey Pride at Mercer County Park on Saturday afternoon ... A Conor Gill rebounded from a pointless game against the Barrage with five goals and three assists in the victory over the Pride, earning Bud Light Game MVP honors ... D Chris Passavia held New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard to just one assist on six shots in the win over the Cannons, which clinched a playoff berth for the defending American Division champions ... Boston won both season series against Rochester and the Pride, sweeping the opponents with four straight wins ... GK Chris Garrity returned to his early season form with 19 saves in the win over the Pride ... The Cannons return home to start a stretch of three of the next four games at home when they host undefeated Boston this weekend ... Last year, the Bayhawks and the Cannons met in the playoffs with Boston beating the Bayhawks en route to a berth in the New Balance MLL Championship Game.
LONG ISLAND LIZARDS (3-4): The Lizards suffered their second straight loss with a 19-8 defeat by Baltimore on Sunday afternoon, marking the first time in team history the Lizards had failed to score double digits ... Six different players scored goals for the Lizards, while M A.J. Haugen and A Tim Goettelmann scored two goals each in a losing effort ... GK Greg Cattrano made 18 saves before being relieved by Nick Murtha in the final minutes of the loss ... After winning 13 of 32 draws against Baltimore M Paul Cantabene, rookie M Jack deVilliers won just eight of 24 face-offs against the league's career face-off leader ... The Lizards began a five-game road trip with the loss to Baltimore and will travel to New Jersey this week in a re-match of the season opener, which the Pride won by a 15-14 margin in overtime ... Long Island will be looking for its first road win since a 19-14 victory against Philadelphia on June 4.
NEW JERSEY PRIDE (1-6): The Pride have lost six straight games after an 18-12 defeat to the Boston Cannons on Saturday afternoon ... The loss is the team's sixth straight and 17th in the last 18 games, dating back to last season ... Rookie GK Jay Pfeifer made his second start of the season against the Cannons and allowed 18 goals while making 14 saves ... A Scott Urick scored three goals in a losing effort for the Pride ... The crowd of 4,812 was the largest in team history ... New Jersey concludes its three-game homestand this Saturday night when they host Long Island at Sprague Field.
PHILADELPHIA BARRAGE (3-4): Philadelphia has won three of its last four games after an impressive 26- 15 win over Rochester on Saturday night ... The Barrage are 3-2 on the road this season compared to an 0-2 record at Villanova Stadium ... All five road games came during the team's recent road trip, which ended with the game at Rochester ... A Ryan Boyle scored a careerhigh 10 points in the win over Rochester, marking the best offensive output by an MLL player this season ... He was just two points shy of the league record of 12, which was set by A Mark Millon against the Rattlers during the 2003 season ... GK Brian Dougherty has made 41 saves in the last two games since returning from a broken thumb ... He made 19 stops in the Barrage's win over Rochester on Saturday while allowing just 14 goals ... Philadelphia had its largest lead of the season when they led by 17-4 at half-time ... The Barrage outscored the Rattlers by 8-0 in the second quarter ... The Barrage return to the ESPN2 Game of the Week this week for the first time since the 31-9 loss at Baltimore for the first of two consecutive appearances ... Philadelphia will take on Boston in next week's broadcast ... Philadelphia ends the year by playing four of their final five games at home.
ROCHESTER RATTLERS (1-5): The Rattlers continue to struggle and have fallen to 1-6 with their 26-15 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night ... The 26 points allowed by the Rattlers set a team record while the 11-point margin was the largest loss in team history ... M Brent Rothfuss recorded his first hat trick of the season against the Barrage to pace the offense ... M Chris Scanlon recorded his first professional point with an assist in the loss ... M A.J. Shannon scored the 50th goal of his MLL career in the loss to Philadelphia ... He is the second Rochester player to reach 50 career goals this season, joining A John Grant, Jr. ... GK Tillman Johnson recorded the 300th save of his MLL career during the loss to Philadelphia ... He is now second on the Rattlers all-time list behind Brian Dougherty, who recorded 413 saves during his tenure in Rochester ... The Rattlers will face the Barrage for the second straight week on Thursday night when they return to the MLL Game of the Week for the first time since Week Two. 2005 Major League Lacrosse Weekly Release • July 11, 2005
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:58 pm