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MLL Major League Lacrosse

MLL News and Notes

May 20, 2009 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL) News Release


A Nice Introduction -

In their inaugural season, the Toronto Nationals won their first game against the Washington Bayhawks. Joe Walters scored the first goal in franchise history for Toronto and Jordan Levine entered the history books as the midfielder tallied the game winning goal for the Nationals.

One and done -

Cannons' midfielder Paul Rabil was the only player to tally a score in the 2nd quarter of the Long Island-Boston game. The last time a single goal was tallied in one quarter was back on August 3, 2002, in the opening quarter of the Rochester vs. Baltimore game. On June 23, 2006, the Long Island vs. Baltimore game recorded zero goals in the third quarter.

Road Warriors -

For the first time in franchise history, the Chicago Machine recorded a road victory when they defeated the Denver Outlaws this past Saturday at INVESCO Field. This is also the second consecutive year that the Machine opened their season with a victory.

What Home Advantage? -

For only the 7th weekend in the MLL's history, all home teams lost their games. Boston, Washington, and Denver suffered losses at home; the last time this happened was June 30th, 2005, when Boston, New Jersey, and Long Island lost their home games. The other five times are June 12 &13 and August 5 &7 of 2004, July 19, 2003, and June 21 & 22 and August 8 & 10 of 2002.

Too Close to Call -

This weekend's three games were decided by a combined total of 4 goals. Two games were decided by 1 goal, one (BOS vs. LI) of which tied the record for as the second lowest scoring MLL game ever with a mere 17 combined points; the third game (Chi vs. Den) was decided by 2 points.

Lucky Number Seven -

In his first game as a member of the Toronto Nationals, Merrick Thomson netted 7 goals against the Bayhawks, earning himself Bud Light MVP Honors and Week 1's Offensive Player of the Week. This is the second time in his career that Thomson has scored 7 goals in one game.

On SportsCenter's Top 10 -

ESPN2 will be airing a tape-delay of Washington vs. Long Island game this Thursday, May 21. This year's telecast schedule includes eight regular season games, the All-Star game on July 16, and two games from the New Balance Championship weekend, which will be held August 22 to 23 in Annapolis, MD.

Return of the Smith -

Alex Smith, last year's top face-off man, will lead the Washington Bayhawks against the Long Island Lizards, who happen to have 2008's second best face-off man, Peter Vlahakis. Last season, both midfielders recorded over 240 wins in a single season, while Vlahakis inched his way closer to the second spot on career face-off wins (currently 3rd with 806). Vlahakis went 14-20 this past weekend against the Cannons, while Smith went 25-37 against the Nationals.

Thinking Outside the Box...or Not - Lizards Defensemen, Brian Spallina is first on the list of Career penalty minutes (67 minutes). He already leads all players this season by a full 1 minute in the box, with 3 penalties against the Cannons, totaling 2.5 minutes.

It Doesn't Make Sense -

In their loss to Toronto, the Bayhawks recorded more groundballs (26 to 16), more shots on cage (44 to 35), and more face-off wins (25-12), but still lost (17-16). The other two teams, Long Island and Chicago, won at least two of these three categories AND won their games.

Century Mark -

Long Island's Tim Goettelmann will be playing in his 100th Career Regular Season game on Thursday when he takes the field versus the Washington Bayhawks. Goettelmann becomes the first player in League history to reach the 100 game mark.

Next Century -

Long Island's Blake Miller is also 2 goals away from his 100th career goal as a member of the Lizards. Fellow Lizard Chris Fiore is also 4 goals away from his 100th regular season career goal.

You're Outta Here! -

Chicago Machine Head Coach John Combs and defensemen Steve Holmes will both be serving a one game suspension on Friday against the Toronto Nationals. Holmes used an illegal piece of equipment (non-sponsored crosse) in last Saturday's game against the Denver Outlaws, which led to the automatic action taken by the MLL against the player and coach.

Hub of Lacrosse -

Boston will become the center of the lacrosse universe this weekend. In addition to the NCAA Championships taking place down the road at Gillette Stadium, the festivities kick-off at Harvard Stadium on Friday May 22 when the 68th annual United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) North/South Senior All-Star Games take place prior to the Cannons game that evening versus the Denver Outlaws. The NCAA Division III game will take place at 2:30 PM on May 22, followed by the NCAA Division I/II game at 4:30 PM. The Cannons will take on Denver later that evening at 7:30 PM.

Draft Day -

The 2009 Brine Major League Challenge and Collegiate Draft will take place Wednesday, May 27 at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. Live coverage of the draft begins at 8:30 PM ET on ESPNU.

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