Both the Cannons and Machine headed into the night vying to stay tied for the third seed in Major League Lacrosse with the Florida Launch and New York Lizards. Boston did so on Saturday night with a 17-16 win in overtime thanks to the game winner from Will Manny.
Boston controlled most of the game until three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when Ohio began their comeback. The Cannons led 14-10 and then 16-11 but Ohio scored five straight to tie the game. Logan Schuss, Peter Baum and Tom Schrieber each scored before defenseman Dana Wilbur scored a two-pointer to tie it at 16.
Going into overtime Manny, who is tied for fifth in the league is scoring, already had four goals. Boston controlled possession for most of the overtime period, hitting the post once and missing wide a couple of more times. But less than two minutes in, Manny found the back of the net to give the Cannons a much needed victory.
After the game, all Ryan Boyle could say about how he felt about the win was “Relief.” Boston had been 1-4 on the season in one goal games, their only other win coming against Ohio two weeks ago and losing another one goal game last week in Chesapeake.
Paul Rabil netted nine assists on the night as he picked up the player of the game award. His final assist was on the Manny goal that was the game winner.
Next week Boston heads to 3-5 Charlotte to try to get back over .500. Ohio, now at 3-5 and tied for the sixth seed, travel to New York to face the 4-4 Lizards who are also tied for fourth place.
Head coach John Tucker after the game mentioned the importance of beating Ohio twice in what seems to be a very tight league standings this year, and all of the players agreed the race is going to continue to be this tight all season.
