The regular season is in the books as the final weekend of action was highlighted by several top rookie performances.
The weekend began with Denver’s thrilling comeback win in overtime over first-place New York. First-year player Mike Bocklett (2007 graduate of Fairfield) followed up his 10-point performance with seven points (four goals, three assists) against the Lizards. Erik Adamson of the University of Denver fired five shots (three on goal) and scooped three groundballs while David Dickson of Bucknell had three groundballs as well. On the other side, Hakeem Lecky of Syracuse played his third-career game while Dylan O’Shaughnessy of Lehigh made his MLL debut, tallying one groundball.
In Florida’s impressive 18-11 win over Rochester, Lyle Thompson of Albany helped lead the way with six points (three goals, three assists), tallying 25 points over his final four games. The Launch ended the season winning four of their last five games due in large part to the play of their rookies. Connor Buczek of Cornell scored a goal while Casey Ikeda of Maryland scooped three groundballs. Duncan Clancy of Jacksonville also saw action in his second straight game. For Rochester, Kevin Rice of Syracuse tallied two points (one goal, one assist) while first-year player Mike Poppleton of Johns Hopkins won 14-of-30 faceoffs with three groundballs.
In Chesapeake’s 15-13 win over Charlotte, Chris Hipps of Duke scooped three groundballs, Patrick Resch of Dartmouth made his MLL debut while Henry Schoonmaker of Syracuse also saw action. Charlie Raffa of Maryland was stellar at the faceoff X, winning 19-of-29 with a goal and eight groundballs. On the flip side, UNC alum Joey Sankey wrapped up his stellar rookie season with four goals, ending his season with 34 points in nine games. Will Haus of Duke scooped three groundballs.
The final game of the weekend was a thriller in Ohio as the Machine outlasted Boston to earn home field advantage in the MLL Semifinals. Jimmy Bitter of UNC had a big day with three goals and one assist, which came on a nifty feed to Steele Stanwick for the game-winning goal with less than two minutes remaining. First-year faceoff specialist Greg Puskuldjian won 14-of-35 faceoffs with 12 groundballs and Matt Bertrams of Albany scooped a groundball. For Boston, Joe Nardella of Rutgers was stellar at the faceoff X, winning 21-of-35 and scoring two goals. John Glesener of Army exploded for eight points to help his Cannons stay in the game. Meanwhile, Steele’s younger brother Wells Stanwick (Johns Hopkins) saw action as well.
