The Brown men’s lacrosse 2017 season may not have been as successful as it had hoped, but Brown alumni had a major impact on the Florida Launch’s overtime victory Saturday over the New York Lizards.
Dylan Molloy, the 2016 Tewaaraton Award winner and first pick overall in the 2017 MLL Collegiate Draft, made his pro debut against the Lizards. The Launch had trailed the entire game going into the fourth quarter. He scored three goals and added an assist en route to earning Coca Cola Player of the Game honors.
His third goal stopped a Lizards 3-0 scoring run and tied the game at 12. Florida was on the ride, but New York’s clear attempt was unsuccessful when Austin Pifani dropped the pass from Drew Adams. Molloy scooped up the ball and went to cage when Pifani pushed him from behind, but Molloy got up, unguarded, and easily put the ball in the back of the net behind Adams.
“You each just have to find your spot, see how you fit in,” Molloy said on the league’s website. “So, I think that’s what the transition period in the first half was, seeing how we play together and who fits where, just figuring that out. Then we really started figuring it out and let the game come to us.”
Molloy's assist came on the game-winning goal in overtime. Molloy was top-right and started towards the goal but was double-teamed, so he dumped it to Brown classmate Alec Tullett, a defender, who was on the offensive end of the field and in front of his defender on the crease, and Tullett scored, the first goal of his career as well.
Florida had two other Brown alumni playing. Chazz Woodson continued his strong season, scoring two goals, giving him 12 on the season. At the faceoff X, Will Gural struggled against former league MVP Greg Gurenlian, but still won five faceoffs.
Kyle Harrison strong in return
The Ohio Machine defeated the Boston Cannons, 13-12, in overtime, stretching the team’s win streak to three games and positioning them into second place in the MLL standings at 5-2.
As the team continues its roll, it will do so at full strength now, as veteran midfielder Kyle Harrison made his 2017 season debut in the game against the Cannons. Harrison underwent ankle surgery on April 3, causing him to miss the team’s first six games.
“Each little step felt like something monumental for me,” Harrison said about his recovery on his YouTube series “The Road Back” on the STX channel. “You don’t want to be overly dramatic, but it was like, ‘Nice, I’m moving again.’ Then when I went from getting that cast off into the boot, I felt even better ,because now I could sleep without the boot, I could shower normally, no more trash bag, and then I could start doing things again: lifting, wall ball, shooting without, obviously, moving all that much, but things that were not that foreign anymore.”
Against the Cannons, Harrison scored two goals. His first goal was Ohio’s first score of the game. Harrison began with the ball and the team worked the ball around to Mark Cockerton behind the cage, who found Harrison alone top right for an easy step-down shot and goal.
Perennial contenders struggling
The New York Lizards and Boston Cannons – two of the league’s original franchises – seem to annually be top contenders in Major League Lacrosse. After Week 8, however, both teams are on losing streaks and are at the bottom of the league standings.
The Cannons (2-5) have lost two in a row and also had a three-game losing streak earlier in the season.
The Lizards (2-4) have the longest active losing streak in the league at three games, which includes a sweep from the Florida Launch and a loss to the Boston Cannons, who currently have the worst record in the league.
“We’re going to shake it up. I’m excited about shaking it up,” Lizards head coach Joe Spallina said on Lax Sports Network earlier in the week prior to the second game against the Launch. “I think if you do what you’ve always done, you’re going to get what you’ve always gotten. What we’re doing right now is two losses in a row, and that’s not good enough. We let our guys know that what happened last game and the game before that is something we’ve got to fix.”
Things will not be easier in Week 9, as Boston travels to Denver to take on the league-leading Outlaws, who only have one loss, and New York hosts Rochester, which is tied for third in the standings and is on a two-game win streak.
Noteworthy
Florida’s Ryan Drenner, a rookie from Towson, also shined in his pro debut, scoring three goals – including the game-tying goal with one second remaining – and had an assist. … New York’s Greg Gurenlian went 24-for-29 from the faceoff X and scored one goal. … Boston’s Will Manny scored two goals and tallied an assist, helping him surpass 200 career points. … Six players (Marcus Holman, Jake Bernhardt, Harrison, Tom Schreiber, Kevin Cunningham and Mark Cockerton) each scored two goals apiece for the Ohio Machine. Peter Baum scored the other goal, but he also added a game-high three assists. … Kevin Rice returned to the Atlanta Blaze lineup from a broken hand in the team’s 18-12 loss to the Charlotte Hounds. He scored four goals and tallied four assists. … Atlanta rookie Jake Withers went 24-for-32 on faceoffs and picked up 11 ground balls. … Jeremy Boltus scored five goals in Rochester’s 17-16 overtime victory over the Chesapeake Bayhawks. Zed Williams scored his first two MLL goals, including the game-winner. … Chesapeake rookie Josh Byrne, out of Hofstra, was dynamic in his professional debut, scoring seven goals, including one on a one-handed shot while falling down.
Player of the Week
Ryan Brown, A, Charlotte
The second-year player scored five goals in the team’s 18-12 victory over the Atlanta Blaze. He scored once in each quarter, including the first goal of the game. He leads the league in both goals (23) and points (30).