Cannons Earn Comeback Win in Front of Record Crowd
June 17, 2006 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Boston Cannons News Release
Boston, MA- It was billed as one of the most exciting match-ups of the first half of the 2006 MLL season, and Saturday's 18-15 victory by the Boston Cannons over the expansion San Francisco Dragons at Nickerson Field lived up to the hype.
The Cannons battled hard against a San Francisco team that is a proven scoring threat, before an all-time record crowd of 7,590 fans. Boston was down by as many as five goals in the first half before lighting things up in the second half. The game was intense from the opening, with a large scramble for the ball on the opening face-off.
"This was certainly a hard-fought victory," said Cannons Coach Bill Daye. "We knew that San Francisco was dangerous going into this game, but our guys never lost their composure, even when we were down, and we saw some really spectacular goals from our players tonight."
The Cannons would open the scoring, on a goal from John Christmas 4:53 into the game. Boston would take a two-goal lead following a score by Billy Glading about a minute later, before San Francisco would begin a five-goal run sparked by a goal from former Cannon Chris Rotelli.
While San Francisco dominating the first half, and held Cannons leading scorer Conor Gill to just one assist in that span, there was a bright spot nearly half-way through the second quarter. With the Cannons trailing San Francisco 8-3, rookie attacker Brett Bucktooth scored his first MLL career goal in highlight-reel fashion, off a great pass from Conor Gill, who was camped out behind the Dragons net at the time. Gill found a wide-open Bucktooth who put the ball past Dragons goalie Alex Cade for the goal. Bucktooth was recently drafted by the Cannons with the 14th overall pick on the 2006 MLL Collegiate Draft and this was his first MLL game.
Less than one minute later, it looked as though the Cannons were about to score again, but the shot by Cannons attacker David Evans hit the post.
By the time the half had ended, it was San Francisco 9, Boston 4.
The break appeared to do Boston some good, as they controlled possession off the opening face-off and scored two quick goals to bring the score to 6-9. It was in the fourth-quarter, however, that things really got going for the Cannons. In the Cannons four prior games this season, they have outscored their opponents 17-14 in the fourth quarter, and they would need that late scoring touch if they were to defeat San Francisco, who were up by three goals.
Conor Gill would start things off, scoring just over a minute into the period. The next two goals would be by Boston players. One of the most exciting goals of the evening would come about halfway through the quarter, as John Christmas scored his fourth goal of the games as hew fell to his knees. That goal, which tied the game at 14-14, would ignite a five-goal run by the Cannons. Chris Fiore's third goal of the game at 8:38 would put the Cannons up 15-14, their first lead since the first quarter. While Cannons fans were cheered the lead, they were cheering even louder for Boston's next goal.
Recovering the ball deep in the Cannons own end, Chris Passavia charged up the field
finding an open Chazz Woodson. Woodson then passed the ball off to Chris Fiore, who then fed it back to Woodson, who ran behind the back of the goal and before diving in front of Cade for the score in dramatic fashion.
The Cannons would score twice more, and San Francisco would add another goal to bring the final to 18-15.
While Ryan Powell led all players with 8 points (5 goals and 3 assists), Boston's Conor Gill had six points (4 goals and 2 assists) on the evening. John Christmas had four goals and an assist, and Chris Fiore had three goals and an assist.
Brett Bucktooth, playing in his first MLL game since being drafted, had a goal and an assist on two shots.
San Francisco's Matt Alrich finished with a hat-trick.
Boston's David Jenkins dominated at the face-off X. Jenkins was 25-35, while former Cannons face-off specialist Peter Inge was just 6-21. The Dragons Tim Booth was 5-15. Jenkins also led all players in the game with 11 groundballs.
Both goalies made a number of great saves that were worthy of SportsCenter. At the end of the evening, Boston's Chris Garrity made 16 saves on 31 shots in the victory. San Francisco's Alex Cade, once a Cannons back-up, made 17 saves on 35 shots.
The Cannons defense did an outstanding job against a San Francisco team that has scored at least twenty goals in each of their last two games. Ryan Curtis and Chris Passavia played an especially tough game. The Cannons defense played well against Dragons rookie Joe Yevoli, who had an outstanding performance last week against Denver. While the Dragons Ryan Powell was able to manage 5 goals and 3 assists, the Cannons defense never left him alone all evening.
The Cannons next game is on Saturday, July 24 versus the Philadelphia Barrage at Nickerson Field. The game begins at 7:00 PM.
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