In 2016, the Rochester Rattlers were part of a seven-team tie for first place in the league, but missed out on the playoffs due to a series of complicated tiebreakers.
The last game of the 2017 season had a much simpler outcome for Rochester: Win and you’re in, lose and you’re out.
The Rattlers took on the Ohio Machine, who were attempting to earn the top seed in the MLL playoffs, and came out on top 14-13. Attackman Jordan Wolf, playing in his first game since July 16 due to an injury, scored the go-ahead goal with less than two minutes remaining.
“We were trying to play for one more weekend together,” Wolf said on Lax Sports Network after the game. “As everyone knows, we’re a really close team. We love our locker room. We want to play one more game, at least, together, and that’s all we thought about, playing with a little desperation.”
A close game throughout — neither team held a lead of more than two goals — the score was tied at 13 with eight minutes remaining. The score stayed that way until Wolf scored with 1:29 left. It was his third goal of the game, to go along with an assist.
“I was fortunate to make a good play and skip one by [Ohio goalie] Scotty [Rodgers],” he said. “I got lucky. I got fortunate to hang my defender up, just try to run into it as hard as I can and get my hands free. I was only a few yards away.”
Rochester enters the playoffs as the hottest team in the league with four consecutive victories. They travel to Denver to take on the top-seeded Outlaws, who have lost three of their final four games and were swept by the Rattlers this season (a 16-15 contest May 27 and 18-12 match July 20). The game will be played at 4:30 p.m. Eastern at the University of Denver’s Peter Barton Stadium and streamed live on Twitter.
Denver lost to Chesapeake 23-19 in its regular season finale despite seven-point performances from Eric Law, Mike Bocklet and Matt Kavanagh.
Ohio hosts new-look Launch
With the loss to the Rattlers, Ohio finished second in the standings and will host the Florida Launch — who were inactive in the final week of the regular season — in the second semifinal matchup Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and also streamed live on Twitter.
The two teams previously met only once this season, with the Machine defeating the Launch 19-7 on May 27.
While the Launch were enjoying some success up to that point, entering that game at 2-2, they are a different team heading into the playoffs. That game took place one day prior to the MLL draft, in which Florida really reshaped its lineup.
In the draft, Florida added defenders Alec Tulett and Jarrod Neumann, midfielders Nick Mariano and Sergio Salcido, and attackmen Dylan Molloy and Ryan Drenner. Those five have combined for 51 of the team’s 179 goals (28.5 percent) and, more importantly, five of the eight game-winning goals. Molloy, Mariano and Drenner are fourth, fifth, and seventh on the team in points, respectively, and Molloy is a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year.
“I think, honestly, he’s just playing hard and having fun and letting the plays come to him, seizing the opportunities that come up to him,” Launch coach Tom Mariano said of Molloy on Lax Sports Network prior to their regular season finale. “He’s fun to watch when he plays like that.”
While Florida may seem unrecognizable to the Machine in their rematch, Ohio has a few new faces of its own. Veteran Kyle Harrison returned from an injury, and rookie Connor Cannizzaro had not been drafted yet. Cannizzaro is sixth on the Machine in points, with 19 goals and seven assists in seven games.
Big day for Bayhawks
They may not have been eligible for a postseason berth, but that did not stop the Chesapeake Bayhawks from putting together arguably their best game of the season in a 23-19 victory over the first-placeDenver Outlaws.
Several players for the Bayhawks had big nights statistically. Lyle Thompson finished his first season as a Bayhawk with a nine-point effort behind six goals (including one 2-point goal) and two assists. Rookie Jake Froccaro scored four goals (including one 2-point goal) and also added two assists for seven points.
The player that made headlines, however, was rookie Josh Byrne, who continued his hot streak, breaking the MLL rookie scoring record.
“Josh Byrne is an animal, just a real scoring machine," Froccaro said on the team’s website. "We were all really pulling for Josh to get the record tonight. We knew if he got enough chances, he would. Obviously, Josh is a gifted finisher. He finds a way to get open shots and cans them.”
Byrne scored seven goals, giving him 39 on the season, breaking Florida Launch attackman Kieran McArdle’s previous rookie record of 34. In nine games played, it was the second time he scored seven goals in a game and the seventh time he scored at least three goals in one game.
“When you’ve got guys like Lyle Thompson, [Matt] Danowski, [Myles] Jones, Froccaro — all those guys that draw so much attention that you’ve got to be able to work off-ball and you know that they’re going to find you,” Byrne said on Lax Sports Network after the game. “I’m just doing my best out here and trying to put the ball in the net when I can.”
Noteworthy
Rattlers faceoff specialist Drew Simoneau was named Player of the Game against the Machine, winning 24 of his 31 faceoffs, scooping 13 ground balls, and scoring a goal. … Machine attackman Mark Cokcerton scored a season-high five goals, giving him a new career-high of 35 goals in a season. …
Rob Pannell netted a game-high six points (three goals, three assists) in New York’s 17-14 win over the Charlotte Hounds. … In his final MLL game, Lizards faceoff specialist Greg Gurenlian won 20 of 33 faceoffs, giving him 2024 victories over his career. His 11 ground balls also pushed him past 1,000 for his career. … Hounds midfielder John Haus scored a team-high five points behind four goals and one assist, setting a new career high of 46 points.
Eric Law’s seven points (three goals, four assists) in Denver’s loss to Chesapeake helped him tie Ohio’s Peter Baum for the league lead in points (52) this season. … Three Denver rookies – Max Adler, Mike Hernandez and Mikie Schlosser — all scored their first MLL goals. …
Atlanta Blaze attackman Kevin Rice scored five goals (including one 2-point goal) and tallied two assists for a game-high eight points in Atlanta’s 18-16 victory over the Boston Cannons. … Two long-poles — Scott Ratliff and Graeme Hossack — scored 2-point goals for Atlanta. Hossack also added an assist. … Kylor Bellistri secured his position as Boston’s top scorer this season with two goals and an assist, giving him 39 points on the season.
Player of the Week
John Galloway, G, Rochester Rattlers
The veteran goalie made 23 saves on 36 shots in a must-win game for the Rattlers. Down 10-8 at halftime, Galloway made 13 saves in the second half, more than the total for five other goalies that played this week. Galloway also made eight saves in the fourth quarter.