Just 13 days after falling to New York in the 2014 season opener, the Rochester Rattlers responded by beating the Lizards 15-9 Friday evening on CBS Sports Network.
After New York took a 4-1 lead after one quarter, Rochester outscored the Lizards 14-5 the rest of the way to roll to the victory.
“I think we had good opportunities early, but we just didn’t bury them,” said Rochester head coach Tim Soudan. “Drew Adams is a great goalie. It was evenly-played, but they just outscored us in the first quarter. Then we talked about how important it is to move the ball and share the ball. It was fun to watch. When we started doing that, the ball was popping around the outside.”
Dave Lawson and Steven Boyle of Rochester each posted hat tricks to lead the way while the Rattlers defense held the Lizards to half the number of goals as the first meeting between the two (an 18-15 New York victory).
The biggest difference according to Soudan, compared to the first meeting, was its play early. Rochester trailed by three after one quarter due in large part to Adams who made five first-quarter saves.
“Our first two games, we came out of the locker room slowly,” said Soudan. “We made a point of talking about it all day, trying to make [the players] aware of it, so when they come out here, they feel excited and there’s not a lull.”
Rochester led Friday’s game 8-7 at the half after leading 9-7 in the first meeting. In the first meeting, New York used a 7-2 third-quarter to gain control but the Rattlers dominated the third on Friday, 5-1, to make it 13-8 after 45 minutes of play.
“We were just looking to move the ball around,” said Boyle. “We were looking to stop their run and stop the bleeding. I thought we moved the ball pretty well on offense. We were unselfish with it and we just wanted to keep our feet moving. We were lucky enough to hit some shots on Drew; we didn’t want him to get hot early.”
For as good as Rochester’s offense was, its defense was arguably the biggest difference from the April 27 meeting. New York scored 18 goals on 36 shots on goal in the opener, but scored just nine times on 20 shots on goal on Friday. Rob Pannell scored six goals in the opener, but was held without a goal and just three assists by the Rattlers Friday. Ned Crotty, who didn’t play in the first meeting, led New York with three goals while Pannell’s former Cornell teammate Max Seibald scored twice.
“I think we played great defensively,” said Soudan. “I thought John LoCascio played very well.”
Playing his first professional game out of Villanova, LoCascio was facing a former mentor in Brian Karalunas, who scooped four groundballs for the Lizards.
Rochester held a dominant 39-26 edge in groundballs led by seven from Joel White. John Ortolani held his own at the faceoff X against Greg Gurenlian, winning 12-of-27. John Galloway was steady in goal, making 11 saves.
After New York took a 4-1 lead after one quarter, Rochester scored three times in the first 2:27 of the second to quickly even the score. The teams traded goals until former Salisbury star Sam Bradman scored his first-career MLL goal to make it 7-6 late in the second quarter. The Rattlers wouldn’t trail the rest of the way.
Rochester scored five straight goals bridging the third and fourth quarters to turn a 9-8 lead into a 14-8 advantage, erasing any doubt.
“We wanted to make sure we came out of halftime with a sense of urgency.” said Boyle. “Make sure we got the first one, keep it rolling and go from there.”
“In this game, momentum can carry a long way,” said Soudan. “Any time they scored, we answered. We had some really good plays in transition which we haven’t had in the first two games. We scored in transitions which is really positive. Those are the goals you don’t count on getting.”
One of those transition goals was a two-pointer from defenseman Mike Manley, the only two-pointer from either side.
After New York’s season-opening win, the Lizards have lost two straight while the Rattlers have rebounded to win two in a row. Rochester returns to action next Saturday (May 17) at Denver while New York heads to Ohio that same night.
