Before ever stepping onto a Major League Lacrosse field, Ben Reeves caused quite a stir.
When the league announced the roster for Team MLL for the All-Star Game against Team USA on Thursday, June 28, Ben Reeves was one of six rookies on the roster. This set off a myriad of tweets for or against the selection. Some said Reeves was a talented player coming off an incredible college season, therefore fans would want to see him in the exhibition; others argued that he hadn’t earned his spot on the team since he hadn’t played a single game yet, and other league veterans were more deserving.
“Don't know how it happened, but I’m grateful for it, I guess,” Reeves said in an article by Brian Sandler on The CW33. “I mean, it’ll be fun. It’ll be good to be on the same field as all those guys. But I don’t know how it works.”
“Yeah, we’ll bust his chops a little,” Rattlers and Team MLL teammate Matt Dunn said in Sandler’s article. “But nothing personal.”
Despite the controversy, Reeves put together a good performance in his league debut five days later. Playing against the defending champion Ohio Machine, Reeves scored two goals as Dallas stayed undefeated at home thanks to a 17-16 victory over the Machine.
His first goal was an unassisted goal in the second quarter. His second score came in the fourth, tying the game at 16.
“There’s a lot of incredible players [in Dallas],” Reeves said earlier in the week on Lax Sports Network. “I’m just hoping to fit in and do whatever they need me to do. Whether that means playing attack or midfield, whatever it is, I don’t know, kind of just contribute in any way and mesh well with the guys and hopefully add on to the success they’ve been having.”
Ty Thompson — someone considered a snub for Team MLL — scored the game-winner with just under three and a half minutes remaining. The goal was Thompson’s third of the night and 28th of the season, tied for the most in the league. He’s now scored in 18 straight league appearances.
Connor Fields Debuts
With the third pick in the 2018 MLL collegiate draft, the Charlotte Hounds selected Connor Fields out of Albany. Fields was considered one of the top three players in the draft and for good reason. He finished his collegiate career second all-time in points (364) and tied for third in goals with 199 (fellow class of 2018 graduate Justin Guterding of Duke broke the record in 2018).
After helping to lead the Great Danes to their first trip to championship weekend, Fields’s professional career was in doubt when Albany head coach Scott Marr told Albany radio station 104.5 that Fields played his senior season with a torn MCL and his junior and senior seasons with a torn ACL. A Lax Sports Network tweet from May 28 said although a determination on surgery was yet to be determined, it was expected that he would require surgery and miss the 2018 MLL season.
In a May 29 article by Michael Kelly in The Daily Gazette, Fields seemed optimistic about playing for Charlotte, however.
“If they want me to play, I will. I feel like I was getting better with it,” Fields said. “My knee is feeling better every week.”
On Friday, Lax Sports Network tweeted that Fields was cleared to play by the medical staff and was activated by the Hounds. It was a game-time decision if he would play against the Lizards, but he did in fact make his MLL debut in the team’s 20-16 loss.
In addition to playing his first MLL game, Fields earned his first point when he got the assist on a Matt Rambo goal in the fourth quarter when Charlotte was attempting a comeback, outscoring New York 5-3 in the final frame.
“You people have no idea what this young man has been through in the last month and a half,” Marr said in Kelly’s article. “I could not be more proud of him for leading our team and being a warrior and playing with a really serious injury.”
Chesapeake Heating Up
The Bayhawks defeated the Atlanta Blaze 9-6, extending their winning streak to a league-best five games.
Chesapeake got great efforts from players all over the field in the win. On offense, Steele Stanwick scored four of Chesapeake’s nine goals, and Matt Danowski had a team-high five points (one goal and four assists). Defensively, Garrett Epple held Kevin Rice — who is second in the league in scoring — to one goal and one assist. Goaltender Niko Amato made 15 saves.
“I feel like we’re winning in different ways. We’ve had games when we scored a bunch and others when it was a tight defensive battle,” Stanwick said on the Bayhawks website. “It seems like a different guy steps up in every game. It’s a really deep and talented team. It’s also a young team, and I kind of feel like the old guy in the locker room.”
The victory propelled the Bayhawks into second place in the league standings.
Noteworthy
Paul Rabil scored five goals, including a 2-pointer, and added two assists in New York’s victory over Charlotte. His second goal of the game was the 300th of his career, making him only the second player in league history to join the 300-goal club (John Grant Jr. was the first). … Drew Adams made 18 saves on 34 shots on goal. … Rob Pannell and Will Manny each scored five goals for New York. ... Mike Chanenchuk, Ryan Brown, Matt Rambo, Tim Rotanz, John Haus, and Michael Erhardt each had three points for Charlotte. …
Rookie Jules Heningburg scored a team-high seven points (four goals, three assists) in Florida’s loss to Denver. It was the second week in a row he tallied at least six points and three assists. … Chris Cloutier scored four goals and added four assists for Denver. It was the second time in three games he totaled eight points. … Eleven different players tallied a point for the Outlaws. … Max Adler won 23 of 41 face-offs and picked up seven ground balls for Denver. …
Deemer Class scored three goals in Atlanta’s loss to Chesapeake. … Chesapeake’s Josh Byrne scored one goal and added one assist. …
Jordan Wolf had a team-high five points (two goals, three assists) for Dallas, including scoring his 150th career goal. … John Galloway made nine saves in his 100th career MLL game. … Marcus Holman scored six goals and added nine assists for Ohio. He became the first player in Machine history to score at least six goals in multiple games in a season.
Player of the Week
Eric Law, A, Denver Outlaws
It was a record-setting night for Law in a 26-15 victory over the Florida Launch. He set a franchise record with 11 points on seven goals (tying a team record) and four assists. Four of his 11 points came in the second quarter, when Denver pulled ahead of Florida for good, outscoring the Launch 9-6 in the quarter. Additionally, his first goal of the game was the 150th of his career, becoming the third Outlaws player to reach that milestone.