Major League Lacrosse weekly (6/21/05)

[Sonny]

MLL Offensive Player of the Week

Kevin Leveille, Attack, Boston Cannons, 5-10, 185, University of Massachusetts (2003).

Leveille scored a career-high seven goals to set a Boston team record in the Cannons' 20-14 victory over Long Island on Saturday night ... He also added an assist to tie a career high with eight points ... The leading scorer in the MLL this season, Leveille has scored 18 goals in four games as the Cannons have tied the MLL record for the best start in league history with four straight wins ... Leveille is nearing his personal best for goals in a season ... Last year, the former UMass star scored 27 goals, including a two-point goal, with 12 assists.

MLL Defensive Player of the Week

Mike Levin, Goalkeeper, Philadelphia Barrage, 5-10, 185, Brown (2004).

Making his first start of the season, Levin made a career-high 21 saves in the Barrage's 11-10 win over New Jersey on Saturday night ... Levin, who was recently acquired in a deal from Baltimore to fill in for injured netminder Brian Dougherty, eclipsed his previous personal mark of 20 saves he recorded against the Rochester Rattlers on June 13 of last season ... It was his first game action since the end of last season.

Cascade MLL Rookie of the Week

Kyle Harrison, Midfield, New Jersey Pride, 6-0, 185, Johns Hopkins (2005)

Harrison made his MLL debut last week against Philadelphia and scored two goals in the Pride's 11-10 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night ... The Tewaaraton Trophy finalist, Harrison was making his MLL debut after leading Johns Hopkins University to the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse title this past spring.

OPENING FACE-OFF

THEY KEEP WINNING AND WINNING: After five weeks of play this season, Boston and Baltimore have quickly established themselves as the teams to beat ... The Cannons and the Bayhawks have each won their first four games, tying the league record for the best start to a season ... For the Cannons, it is the second straight season they have come out of the gate with a 4-0 record ... Baltimore is 4-0 for the second time in team history ... During the 2002 season, the Bayhawks won their first four games before falling to Bridgeport by a 15-7 margin on June 22 at Ravens Stadium ... The Bayhawks finished the season with a 10-4 record and won their first MLL title ... Boston advanced to the MLL Championship Game before falling to Philadelphia by a 13-11 margin.

LAST WEEK'S GAME RECAPS

JUNE 18 - @ BOSTON 20, LONG ISLAND 14: Boston A Kevin Leveille set a Cannons record with seven goals in helping the Cannons tie the league record for best start in a season with a 20-14 victory over Long Island ... Leveille broke the record that was previously held by five players ... A Michael Watson was the last Cannon to score six goals, tying the mark during the 2003 season ... His seven goals also were the most scored by an MLL player so far this season ... Leveille was one of two players to score a hat trick for the Cannons in the win ... M Chris Rotelli scored three goals along with an assist ... Leading by just 12-10 at the end of the third quarter, Boston scored eight times in the fourth quarter to take the win ... The Lizards were led by M Jay Jalbert, who scored three goals, including a two-point tally, and added an assist ... A Chris Massey scored twice in the loss for the Lizards ... Making his return from a hamstring injury, Long Island GK Greg Cattrano made 14 saves while Boston GK Chris Garrity continued his stellar play in the early part of the season with 19 saves ... A Mark Millon extended his streak of consecutive games with a goal to 28 with a two-goal performance against the Lizards ... The Cannons evened the all-time series against the Lizards in regular season play at 7-7 with their third win in the last four games.

JUNE 18 - BALTIMORE 18, @ ROCHESTER 11: The Bayhawks improved to 4-0 on the season with an 18-11, come-from-behind victory over the Rattlers in a National Division game at Bishop Kearney Field ... Baltimore, which had not trailed in its previous three games, trailed by 8-2 at the end of the first half ... The two goals scored by the Bayhawks in the first half were the fewest scored by a team in a half this season ... After the teams traded a pair of goals at the start of the third quarter, the Bayhawks went on an 8-0 run to turn a 10-4 deficit into a 12-10 lead ... A Gary Gait scored three goals with three assists to lead the Bayhawks in the victory ... He has scored a goal in 32 straight games, dating back to the 2002 season ... A Mikey Powell and A Tom Marechek also scored three goals in the win in addition to two assists each ... Facing his former team for the first time, Rochester A Andrew "Buggs" Combs recorded his second career hat trick with a three-goal, one-assist effort in the loss ... M Tim Booth also scored three times for the Rattlers, who lost their fourth straight game to set a team record for most consecutive losses to start a season ... The Bayhawks are now 11-3 all-time against the Rattlers and snap a two-game losing streak to their divisional rival.

JUNE 18 - PHILADELPHIA 11, @ NEW JERSEY 10: The defending MLL champion Barrage ended a three-game losing streak to start the season with an 11-10 victory over New Jersey in the Pride's home opener at Alumni Stadium on the campus of Kean University ... Philadelphia A B.J. Prager scored three goals, including the eventual game-winning goal in the fourth quarter, as the Barrage held off a frantic comeback by the Pride in the final two minutes to earn their first win ... A Ryan Boyle, the reigning Cascade Rookie of the Year, also scored three goals in the game along with M Bobby Horsey, who scored the first three goals of his career ... Holding a 9-8 lead after the third quarter, the Barrage scored two goals to start the fourth quarter before the Pride scored twice within 42 seconds to cut the deficit to 11-10 ... The Pride won the ensuing face-off and after calling a timeout, had a chance to tie the game, but A Scott Urick's shot was stopped by GK Mike Levin and the Barrage ran out the clock ... Making his MLL debut, rookie M Kyle Harrison scored two goals and took seven shots ... Levin, who was acquired by the Barrage from Baltimore earlier in the week, made a career-high 21 saves in the win ... It was his first game action since last year's regular season finale ... The victory allowed the Barrage to avoid starting a season with four straight losses for the first time since the 2003 season ... That year, the Barrage started the season with six straight losses.

MLL NEWS AND NOTES

LEVEILLE ON FIRE EARLY: Boston A Kevin Leveille has had an outstanding start to the 2005 season with 18 goals in his first four games ... He leads the league in goals (18) and points (22) in helping the Cannons to a 4-0 record, which ties the team and league record for best start to a season ... Leveille's 18 goals in the first four games was close to the league record for the best four-game stretch in league history ... Last season, Boston teammate Michael Watson scored 21 goals in four games to set the mark ... Watson scored at least five goals in each game, including a six-goal performance against Rochester on July 17 ... Leveille is just nine goals away from matching his personal best for a season of 27, which he set last year.

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 ... Long Island M Jay Jalbert is the next player who could be eligible to join this list ... Entering this week's games, the 2003 Bud Light MVP is just 13 points away with 187 points on 129 goals, including nine two-pointers, and 49 assists ... He ranks in the top ten in goals, two-point goals and assists ... Boston A Conor Gill is not far behind with 185 career points.

GETTING CLOSER TO 300: Boston A Mark Millon is getting closer to becoming the first player in MLL history to record 300 career points ... After scoring two goals in the Cannons' win over Long Island on Saturday night, the five-year attackman is now just 32 points away from reaching the milestone ... He is also 19 goals away from reaching 200 goals for his career and just one away from surpassing New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard for the league's top spot on the career goals list ... 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.

REACHING THE CENTURY MARK: Baltimore A David Curry became the 14th player in MLL history to score 100 goals in his career with a single goal in Baltimore's 18-11 win over Rochester on Saturday ... Meanwhile, Philadelphia M Roy Colsey needs three tallies to get 100 for his career ... Earlier this season, Long Island M Blake Miller joined the list when he scored the milestone goal against New Jersey in the season opener with a five-goal effort ... New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard is the league's all-time leader with 182 goals in his four-plus years, while Boston A Mark Millon is just one behind the former Princeton Tiger for second place ... Three of the top five members on the list will square off on Saturday when New Jersey takes on Boston at Nickerson Field.

WHAT A START FOR GARRITY: Boston GK Chris Garrity has had a stellar start to the 2005 season ... The league leader in save percentage, Garrity has stopped 61.3 per cent of the shots he has faced so far this season ... Named as the MLL Defensive Player of the Week during Week 3 after making 19 saves in the Cannons' 18-10 win over Rochester on June 4 ... A third-year starter for the Cannons, Garrity has not allowed more than 13 goals in any game this season ... Garrity has also made 18 or more saves in each game this season ... Garrity has a career 12-4 record in two-plus seasons for the Cannons.

REACHING THE CENTURY MARK, PART TWO: With two assists in Boston's 20-14 win over Long Island on Saturday night, Boston A Conor Gill took over the MLL all-time assist lead with 110 in four seasons ... Gill took over the lead from Rochester M Casey Powell, who has 109 assists in his career ... Only four players have ever recorded 100 or more assists in league history ... In addition to Gill and Powell, former New Jersey Pride A Jon Hess and current Rochester Rattler A Ryan Powell rank third on the career list with 100 assists.

HUBBARD FIRING HIS OWN CANNON AGAINST BOSTON: New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard has had some of his best games against the Boston Cannons during his MLL career ... In nine career games, Hubbard has scored 46 goals along with seven assists ... He has scored seven goals three times against Boston, including a seven-goal, two-assist performance last June in Boston's 21-19 win over the Pride at Nickerson Field ... Hubbard has scored 182 goals in his MLL career, which is the most by any player ... The 46 goals scored by Hubbard are the most against any team in his career.

MILLON GRABBING PRIDE BY THE TAIL: Against the New Jersey Pride, Boston A Mark Millon tends to have some great games ... In 13 career games against the Pride, the former Bayhawk sharpshooter has scored 49 goals to go with 13 assists ... His 49 goals are the second most against any opponent in Millon's career ... Millon has scored 54 goals in his career against the Rochester Rattlers ... Millon will face the Pride this week in the ESPN2 Game of the Week at Nickerson Field.

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 all-time in Syracuse history ... In Baltimore's win over Rochester on Saturday, the trio scored nine goals to go with seven assists ... Each player scored three goals in the victory.

WITH THE NUMBER ONE PICK ... : As expected, the New Jersey Pride selected Johns Hopkins M Kyle Harrison with the number one pick in the 2005 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft on June 1 ... Harrison led the Blue Jays to their first NCAA title since the 1987 season with a thrilling victory over Duke on Memorial Day ... The Blue Jays finished the season with a perfect 16-0 record and spent the entire season ranked as the top team in the nation.
Harrison was activated by the Pride for this week's game against Philadelphia ... He missed the previous two games for personal obligations.
With the second pick, the Philadelphia Barrage selected former University of North Carolina A Jed Prossner while Baltimore took D BrodieMerrill and defensive midfielder Benson Erwin with the third and fourth overall selections ... Boston received the fifth pick with a trade to Rochester and picked Virginia A John Christmas while New Jersey ended the round by taking Georgetown face-off specialist Andy Corno.
All six first-round draft picks have been activated by their respective team.

HARRISON MAKES DEBUT AGAINST BARRAGE: New Jersey Pride M Kyle Harrison made his MLL debut in the Pride's 11-10 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night ... He quickly made his presence known by scoring a pair of goals and setting up A Scott Urick's last-second shot that would have tied the game ... The 2005 Tewaaraton Trophy winner, Harrison helped the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays win their first NCAA Division I men's lacrosse title in 17 years with a perfect 16-0 record ... Harrison led the Blue Jays with 24 goals and 20 assists this past season ... He was also named the top player in Division I this past season and earned first-team All-America status.

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.

WE HAVE YOUR NUMBER: For the New Jersey Pride, the most difficult games seem to be against the Baltimore Bayhawks ... Baltimore has defeated their National Division rival ten straight times, including a pair of wins early this season ... New Jersey's last win in the series came on June 29, 2002 in a 22-17 decision at Commerce Bank Ballpark ... Baltimore has only needed to win at home three times during the stretch, including Sunday's 16-point victory.

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.
After winning the season opener against Long Island, the Pride have lost two straight to the Bayhawks, which they will not face again until July 23 in Baltimore.

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 season-opening victory at Long Island two weeks ago.
So far this season, the road team has won four of the seven games ... However, the home team won two of three games this weekend with Long Island collecting the only win against Philadelphia.

LIFE WITHOUT HESS NOT PRODUCTIVE FOR PRIDE: Since New Jersey A Jon Hess retired from the Pride following the 2003 season, the offensive production has been on a downward trend ... After averaging nearly 16 goals in 2003, the Pride are currently averaging 10.75 goals per game in their four games this season ... In addition, the Pride are averaging 4.25 assists in their games this year after an average of nearly seven assists per game last year and eight assists per game two years ago ... During Hess' tenure, the Pride made the playoffs twice ... Since his departure, the Pride have won just two of 16 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 ... This week will mark the first broadcast of the package when the Rochester Rattlers take on the Boston Cannons.
Each team will appear on the broadcast at least three times during the regular season ... The defending MLL champion Philadelphia Barrage will appear four times.
Joe Beninati and Quint Kessenich return for the 2005 season while MLL Director of Public Relations Jason Chandler handles the sideline duties this season.

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 after a 13-12 loss to Boston on Sunday night ... 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.

MR. CONSISTENCY: For the last 32 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 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 28 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.

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.

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.

TEAM NEWS AND NOTES

BOSTON CANNONS (4-0): With their 20-14 win over the Long Island Lizards, the Boston Cannons have tied the league record for the best start to a season with four straight wins ... It is the second straight year the Cannons have started the season with a perfect 4-0 record ... Last season, the Cannons split their final eight games, but were able to claim their first American Division title, ending Long Island's three-year reign ... A Kevin Leveille has been a major reason for the Cannons' success in the early part of the season ... So far, he is the leading scorer in Major League Lacrosse with 18 goals and four assists ... He scored a league-high seven goals in the Cannons' win over the Lizards last week, earning him Bud Light MVP honors ... GK Chris Garrity continues to be the anchor for the Cannons' defense, stopping over 61 per cent of the shots he has faced ... He has made at least 18 saves in each game this year and has not allowed more than 13 goals in a game ... A Mark Millon has scored a goal in 28 straight games, passing former Baltimore teammate Tom Marechek on the league's all-time list for consecutive games with a goal ... Millon is still four games behind former Bayhawk mate Gary Gait, who is at 32 straight games entering this week's play ... The Cannons are in the middle of a three-game homestand and will host the New Jersey Pride on Saturday night on the ESPN2 Game of the Week.




BALTIMORE BAYHAWKS (4-0): The Bayhawks tied the team and league record for the best start in league history with an 18-11 victory over Rochester on Saturday night ... Baltimore began the 2002 season with a four-game win streak en route to the MLL title ... The Bayhawks were down for the first time this season at halftime, trailing by 8-2 to the defending National Division champions ... An 8-0 run in the third quarter turned a 10-4 deficit into a 12-10 lead for visiting Baltimore ... A Gary Gait scored three goals with three assists to earn Bud Light MVP honors ... He has extended his streak of consecutive games with a goal to 32 straight in the win, just 14 shy of the league record held by New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard ... M Mark Frye scored his league-leading fifth two-point goal of the season in the win over Rochester ... As a team, Baltimore has scored nine two-point goals in four games and 90 goals overall ... M Kevin Boland scored his first career goal in the win over Rochester ... Last season, Boland recorded nine assists for the Bayhawks after being selected in the Collegiate Draft ... The Bayhawks are now 11-3 all-time against the Rattlers, including a 5-1 record at Rochester ... Baltimore has won nine of the last 11 meetings against the Rattlers ... It will be the Bayhawks' last home game until July 10 when they host the Long Island Lizards at Unitas Stadium.

LONG ISLAND LIZARDS (2-2): Returning after a two-week layoff, the Lizards fell to Boston by a 20-14 count at Nickerson Field on Saturday evening ... The loss dropped the Lizards to 7-7 all-time against the Cannons in regular season play ... M Jay Jalbert scored three goals, including a two-pointer, and added an assist to lead the Lizards in the losing effort, while A Chris Massey scored twice along with an assist ... After missing the first game of his MLL career two weeks ago, GK Greg Cattrano returned to the goal against the Cannons and made 14 saves, but stopped just one of nine Boston shots in the fourth quarter ... The Lizards will host the Barrage in the second meeting between the two teams this season ... Long Island handed Philadelphia a 19-14 loss in the first meeting three weeks ago at Villanova Stadium ... The Lizards lead the all-time series by a 10-4 margin and have won five of the last seven games in the series.

NEW JERSEY PRIDE (1-3): Following a bye week, the Pride opened their home schedule with an 11-10 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night at Alumni Stadium at Kean University ... The loss was the third straight for the Pride, who opened the season with an overtime victory over Long Island ... New Jersey has lost 14 of their last 16 games, dating back to last season ... M Kyle Harrison, who was selected with the first overall pick in the Collegiate Draft earlier this month, made his MLL debut against the Barrage ... He scored two goals and set up A Scott Urick on the potential game-tying shot in the final minute ... The Tewaaraton Trophy winner this past Spring, Harrison led Johns Hopkins University to the NCAA Division I title, ending a 17-year drought for the Blue Jays ... The Pride were without A Jesse Hubbard, who continues to recover from a broken index finger suffered in the season opener ... His status for Saturday's game against Boston is questionable ... GK Scott Schroeder made 17 saves for the Pride in the loss to Philadelphia, including seven stops in the fourth quarter ... The Pride will face the Cannons this Satruday in the ESPN2 Game of the Week ... Hubbard has scored 49 career goals against the Cannons in 13 career games.

PHILADELPHIA BARRAGE (1-3): The Barrage earned their first win of the 2005 season with an 11-10 victory over the New Jersey Pride on Saturday evening ... It was the first MLL win for Coach Tony Resch, who returned to the sidelines after a two-year hiatus ... He spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons as an assistant coach in Baltimore, helping the Bayhawks to the 2002 title ... M Bobby Horsey scored the first three goals of his MLL career in the win over the Pride ... He is in his second full season of MLL action after playing for Baltimore last year ... Another former Bayhawk, GK Mike Levin, had a stellar game for the Barrage ... After being acquired earlier in the week, Levin made a career-high 21 saves in the win to earn Bud Light MVP honors and this week's MLL Defensive Player of the Week award ... It was his first game action since last year's regular season finale against New Jersey ... The Barrage continue to be plagued by injuries ... GK Brian Dougherty missed last week's game after reinjuring a broken thumb against Baltimore ... He was placed on the 14-day injured reserve ... M Roy Colsey, who ranks second on the league's all-time two-point goals list, continues to battle through a pulled hamstring that has kept him out of the lineup for most of the season ... Meanwhile, D Brian Kuczma played against the Pride despite battling a pulled groin muscle ... The Barrage defeated the Pride for just the second time in the series history ... It is also the second straight win against the Pride after losing the first seven games in the series ... Philadelphia will continue on their five-game road trip this week when they face Long Island in a rematch of the June 4 game, which ended with a 19-14 win for the Lizards ... The Barrage will not return home until July 14 against Rochester.

ROCHESTER RATTLERS (0-4): The Rattlers continue to struggle in the early part of the season after suffering their fourth straight loss, an 18-11 defeat against Baltimore at Bishop Kearney Field on Saturday night ... Rochester is off to its worst start in team history and is two losses away from tying the league record for most losses to start a season, which was set by the Bridgeport Barrage during the 2003 season ... Rookie M Justin Smith and A Jason Doneger made their MLL debuts in the loss to Baltimore on Saturday night as the Rattlers played without the Powell brothers ... The Rattlers led by 8-2 over the Bayhawks after the second quarter, but an 8-0 run by the Bayhawks turned the six-point lead into a two-point deficit ... It was the first time Rochester had held the lead at halftime this season and the first time Baltimore had trailed at the intermission ... A Andrew "Buggs" Combs has made the most of his time as a starter ... Against his former team, the former Maryland Terrapin attackman scored three goals and added two assists for his second career hat trick ... After just one assist last year, Combs has scored five goals and added two assists in two games with Rochester this season ... M Tim Booth scored a career-high three points in the loss to Baltimore ... The Rattlers make their first appearance in Baltimore this season on Sunday afternoon ... After losing their first five games in Baltimore, the Rattlers took a pair of wins away from Baltimore last season at Unitas Stadium en route to the National Division title ... All three of Rochester's wins in the all-time series have come in Baltimore ... Baltimore is 11-3 all-time against its division rival.

Last Week's Results
June 18 - @ Boston 20, Long Island 14 (Nickerson Field - Boston, Mass.)
June 18 - Baltimore 18, @ Rochester 11 (Bishop Kearney Field - Irondequoit, N.Y.)
June 18 - Philadelphia 11, @ New Jersey 10 (Alumni Stadium / Kean University - Union, N.J.)

This Week's Schedule
June 25 New Jersey at Boston 7:00 p.m. (Nickerson Field - Boston, Mass.)
June 25 Philadelphia at Long Island 7:00 p.m. (Mitchel Athletic Complex - Uniondale, N.Y.)
June 26 Rochester at Baltimore 4:00 p.m. (Johnny Unitas Stadium - Towson, Md.)