New York and Rochester are pretty familiar with each other. For the second time in 13 days, the sides will square off. The 1-1 Lizards travel to the 1-1 Rattlers on Friday for a 7:30 pm opening faceoff on CBS Sports Network.
In the April 27 meeting, Cornell graduate and 2013 Tewaaraton Award winner Rob Pannell led the New York offense in the absence of an injured Ned Crotty. Pannell scored six goals in an 18-15 victory as the Lizards reached 18 goals for the first time since July 12, 2012 and easily surpassed last season’s high of 14 goals.
Early in the fourth quarter, New York scored twice in 17 seconds to open a 17-12 lead. Rochester answered with three straight goals to pull within 17-15 with 3:22 still remaining, but Tommy Palasek made it 18-15 with just 12 seconds on the clock.
Acquired from Rochester, Crotty missed the chance to face his old team, but several Lizards players stepped up in his absence. The Duke graduate will have another chance to square off against his old team on Friday. Crotty recorded 117 points from 2011-13 with the Rattlers.
“I think early on, guys were looking around, but ultimately we settled down,” said New York head coach Joe Spalina to CBS Sports Network after the game. “We scored 18 goals; I don’t think we had 18 goals all last season. That’s a positive thing. We added some other key pieces. It’s a team and not one guy, that’s something we showed tonight. We played efficient team offense.”
“We had a great three weeks of training camp,” said Pannell following the April 27 win. “We were very excited to get after an opponent other than ourselves. We have a great team; we have great chemistry off the field. It’s just a matter of developing that chemistry on the field.”
Five different Lizards had double-figure points, paced by Pannell’s six. Crotty went on to make his Lizards debut, and score a goal, in last week’s 12-11 overtime loss at Chesapeake. New York will have an added reinforcement for the second matchup with the Rattlers in 13 days.
Last weekend against the Bayhawks, New York fell behind 10-5 after three quarters, but scored six straight third-quarter goals to take an 11-10 lead. Chesapeake’s Matt Mackrides evened the score with just 31 seconds left in regulation and Stephen Peyser sent the Bayhawks home victorious. Both goaltenders were sensational as New York’s Drew Adams made 17 saves while Chesapeake’s Kip Turner stopped 20.
Rochester rebounded from its season-opening loss by beating Boston last weekend, 8-7. The Rattlers defense was the story, allowing just 18 shots on goal, 11 which were stopped by John Galloway. Rochester allowed just two Boston goals over the first, second and fourth quarters; Galloway stopped 10-of-12 shots in those stanzas. If not for a five-goal third-quarter outburst, the Rattlers may have cruised to a victory.
A balanced offense was led by two goals apiece from Kevin Leveille and John Ranagan. The Rattlers opened a 4-1 halftime lead and held off the Cannons down the stretch.
Which teams show up will go a long way towards deciding this Friday night’s game. Which New York offense will be on display, the offense that scored 18 goals against Rochester, then six fourth-quarter goals vs. Boston or the offense that scored just five times over the first three quarters against the Cannons? Which Rochester defense will we see, the one that allowed just two goals over a three-quarter stretch to the Cannons or five in the third quarter alone?
Does an experienced faceoff man in New York’s Greg Gurenlian continue his success? He’s won 39-of-62 draws this season (63 percent) while Rochester’s John Ortolani has won just 21-of-55 (38 percent). Gurenlian won 20-of-36 in the first meeting.
In the first meeting, Rochester had 36 shots on goal to New York’s 28 and if it wasn’t for a pair of two-point goals (from Rochester’s Mike Manley and Justin Turri), the margin could have been even larger. The April 27 game saw 13 combined first-quarter points (with Rochester leading 7-6 after 15 minutes of play). The game settled down from there with four combined goals in the second, nine in the third and seven in the fourth. That led into more defensive games for both sides last week.
Early in the season, Major League Lacrosse teams try to find their identity. Training camp helps, but it’s much different than a college season when athletes are practicing day in and day out. It takes time for teams to gel and form their identities. This early in an MLL season, we don’t know a lot about either team yet. We have seen spurts of greatness, along with struggles. Both teams have the ability to stand among the league’s best this season. We learn more about MLL teams by the game, so the unexpected adds even more intrigue to Friday night’s showdown.
As Pannell said following the April 27 meeting, “We need to take it one game at a time, that’s the most important thing,” he said. “It’s very easy in this league to look ahead, but if we concentrate on the next opponent, maybe fix some things on the defensive end and continue to improve that chemistry on the offensive end, off-ball movement and keep things going, we’ll be in good shape. But it’s one week at a time and one opponent at a time.”
For Pannell and the Lizards, the next opponent happens to be an opponent it feels like they just beat.
