MLL weekly

Published on July 18, 2005 under Major League Lacrosse (MLL) News Release

MLL Offensive Player of the Week

Andrew "Buggs" Combs, Attack, Rochester Rattlers, 5-10, 175, Maryland (2001)

Entering last Thursday's game against the Philadelphia Barrage, Combs had scored just eight career goals, including seven this season ... After the 14-10 win over the Barrage, the Rochester attackman had scored six goals and earned the first Bud Light MVP award of his MLL career ... Combs scored six goals on just seven shots to lead the Rattlers to their second road win of the season ... Five of his goals came during a 9-1 Rattler run at the start of the game, which set the tone for Rochester to earn the victory ... Combs is tied for the team lead with 13 goals along with two other Rattlers ... This is Combs' first weekly honor of his three-year career.

MLL Defensive Player of the Week

Brodie Merrill, Defense, Baltimore Bayhawks, 6-4, 205, Georgetown (2005)

Merrill held the league's all-time points leader, Boston A Mark Millon, to just one goal on eight shots as the Bayhawks improved to a perfect 8-0 on the season in Baltimore's 20-17 win over the Cannons on Saturday night ... Merrill helped the Bayhawks rally from a half-time deficit to take their 10th straight regular season win, dating back to last season ... This is Merrill's first Defensive Player of the Week award after winning the Cascade Rookie of the Week award twice earlier this year ... Merrill is the first rookie to earn the award since Rochester GK Tillman Johnson won the award during Week Five of last season.

Cascade MLL Rookie of the Week

Graham Gill, Midfield, New Jersey Pride, 6-2, 190, Navy (2005)

Gill scored a pair of goals in the Pride's 19-14 loss to Long Island on Saturday night ... His back-to-back goals in the first quarter gave the Pride a 6-5 lead, marking just the second time this season New Jersey held an advantage after the first 15 minutes of play ... It marks his second straight two-goal game this season ... Gill ranks third among all rookies in scoring with six goals and an assist, trailing Rochester's Jason Doneger and teammate Kyle Harrison ... This is Gill's first rookie honor of the season.

OPENING FACE-OFF

THEY KEEP FINDING WAYS TO WIN: The Baltimore Bayhawks found another way to win this past weekend, defeating the American Division-leading Boston Cannons by a score of 20-17 in front of the largest Boston crowd of the season ... Baltimore A Gary Gait scored four goals to go with an assist, earning Bud Light MVP honors for the fifth time this season ... The Bayhawks overcame a 12-8 half-time deficit to earn the victory ... Baltimore used a 9-2 run in the third quarter to turn the deficit into its eighth straight victory ... Rookie D Brodie Merrill held the league's career points leader, Boston A Mark Millon, to just one goal on eight shots in the game ... It was just the second time the Bayhawks have trailed at intermission this season.

LAST WEEK'S GAME RECAPS

JULY 14 - ROCHESTER 14, @ PHILADELPHIA 10: Rochester A Andrew "Buggs" Combs scored a career-high six goals as the Rattlers rebounded from last week's 11-point loss to the Barrage with a 14-10 victory over the defending MLL champions at Villanova Stadium on Thursday night ... Combs had scored just eight career goals entering the game, but responded well by scoring five of Rochester's first nine goals ... He ended the night with six goals on just seven shots and was named the Bud Light Game MVP for the first time in his MLL career ... Combs is now tied with A Casey Powell and midfielder A.J. Shannon for the team lead in goals ... Rochester jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first half and never trailed in the game ... After the teams traded goals to start the game, Combs and the Rattlers scored eight consecutive goals to take the eight-goal lead ... Combs scored five of the eight goals during the run, including a stretch of three straight goals over a four-minute span ... He also added a pair of back-to-back goals in just over a minute during the second quarter ... Powell recorded one goal and five assists for the Rattlers, who were playing without A Ryan Powell, who suffered an ankle sprain in last week's loss to Philadelphia ... Philadelphia A Ryan Boyle led the Barrage in the loss by scoring four goals ... M Roy Colsey added two goals and an assist for the Barrage, who have to win at Villanova Stadium in three tries this season ... Rochester GK Tillman Johnson made 18 saves in goal for Rochester, which was his highest output since a season-high 23 stops in a June 18 loss to Baltimore ... Both of Rochester's wins this season have come on the road this year ... The Rattlers are 0-3 at Bishop Kearney Field this season ... Of the 13 goals scored by the Rattlers in the win, 12 of them had assists ... Philadelphia GK Brian Dougherty made 16 saves in the loss for the Barrage ... It was Philadelphia's first home game since a June 4 loss to Long Island, a stretch of five games.

JULY 16 - BALTIMORE 20, @ BOSTON 17: Baltimore A Gary Gait scored four goals to go with an assist as the Bayhawks extended their win streak to eight straight games with a 20-17 victory over the Cannons at Nickerson Field ... Gait, who was named the Bud Light MVP for the 13th time in his career, scored three of his four goals in the second half as the Bayhawks had to overcome a half-time deficit for just the second time this season ... Four different Bayhawks recorded hat tricks in the win, including M Gavin Prout, who scored three goals with two assists ... M Jeff Sonke and Mark Frye each scored three goals as well, including back-to-back two-pointers in the third quarter ... Baltimore used a 9-2 run in the third quarter to erase a four-point deficit, which included the two-point goals from Sonke and Frye ... Frye still leads the league with eight two-point goals, just three shy of the league record of 11, which is held by Boston M Mike Regan ... Boston M Mike Battista recorded a career-high seven points in a losing effort, which included a pair of two-point goals ... Boston GK Chris Garrity recorded a career-high 25 saves in the loss for Boston, eclipsing his previous mark of 24 ... Baltimore GK Trevor Tierney made 19 saves in the win, including 11 in the second half, to improve to 7-0 on the season ... The Bayhawks were without M Paul Cantabene for much of the game after he was cut above the eye ... He received seven stitches and was out for the rest of the game ... M Ben DeFelice won 19-of-33 draws filling in for Cantabene.

JULY 16 - LONG ISLAND 19, @ NEW JERSEY 14: Long Island GK Greg Cattrano made 23 saves, including 14 in the second half, as the Lizards handed New Jersey its seventh straight loss with a 19-14 setback at Sprague Field on Saturday evening ... After starting the season with a win over the Lizards, the Pride have lost seven straight ... The loss spoiled the debut of new Coach Brian Silcott, who replaced Ted Georgalas earlier in the week ... Five different players scored a hat trick for the Lizards in the win, including M Blake Miller and Ryan Moran ... The Pride held the lead after the first quarter for just the second time this season with a 7-5 advantage ... A Scott Urick scored a gamehigh four goals in a losing effort while A Jesse Hubbard scored three goals ... It was Hubbard's second hat trick of the season and doubled his goals total to six goals ... M Peter Vlahakis won 22 of 31 face-offs for the Pride in the loss, while M Joe Ghedina won three of the six draws he took ... The Pride had a commanding 67-46 advantage in shots while holding a 35-27 cushion in ground balls ... The win allowed Long Island to stay one game ahead of the Barrage for second place in the American Division and to close within two games of the division-leading Cannons.

MLL NEWS AND NOTES

LET US GO ON THE ROAD: The Philadelphia Barrage have earned all three of their wins this season on the road ... However, the Barrage are 0-3 this season at Villanova Stadium after a 14- 10 loss to Rochester on Thursday night ... Philadelphia just finished a five-game road trip with a 3-2 record, including back-toback wins against Boston and Rochester.

DO YOU WANT TO GO OUTSIDE?: The Philadelphia Barrage have scored just one two-point goal in eight games this season ... M Doug Shanahan scored the Barrage's lone two-point goal in their win over Rochester two weeks ago ... Baltimore leads the league in two-point goals scored with 13 in eight games ... The Barrage have allowed seven two-point goals this season, which is the most allowed by a team in the league this season.

GILL AND GAIT JOIN ELITE GROUP: Boston A Conor Gill and Baltimore A Gary Gait became the fifth and sixth players in MLL history to record 200 or more career points in Saturday's meeting between the Bayhawks and the Cannons ... Gill reached the milestone with a two-goal, three-assist performance in the Cannons' 20-17 loss while Gait scored four goals and added an assist to reach the record ... Gill now has 203 points in his fouryear MLL career, while Gait is two points behind with 201 ... Earlier this season, Rochester A Ryan Powell joined the club to join his brother Casey, Boston A Mark Millon and New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard ... Millon is the league's all-time leader with 282 points.

LOOKING TO START A NEW STREAK: Boston A Conor Gill was held without a point for the first time in nearly three seasons two weeks ago when the Barrage defeated the Cannons by a 15-14 margin ... It snapped a streak of 38 straight games with at least a point, which ranks fifth all-time ... The league record for consecutive games with a point is 54 straight games, which was set by Long Island M A.J. Haugen ... Haugen has scored a point in every game since the middle of the 2001 season ... Gill scored two goals with three assists in the Cannons' loss to Baltimore on Saturday night.

HOME NOT SO SWEET HOME: The Boston Cannons have lost back-to-back home games for the first time this season after their 20-17 setback against Baltimore on Saturday night ... Now 3-2 on the season at Nickerson Field, the Cannons have not lost back-to-back home games since losing to Philadelphia by a 29-20 margin on July 22 and a 25- 14 loss to Baltimore on August 5 of last season ... The Cannons have lost back-to-back games at least once in every season.

GARRITY HAS CAREER NIGHT AGAINST BAYHAWKS: Despite suffering his second loss of the season, Boston GK Chris Garrity made a career-high 25 saves in the 20-17 setback ... Garrity eclipsed his previous mark of 24 saves he set against Long Island on July 24, 2003 and against Rochester on June 5 of last season ... Garrity currently stands second in the league in save percentage, stopping 58.3 per cent of the shots he has faced so far ... He is also in second place in goals against average, allowing 13.0 goals per contest ... Against Philadelphia two weeks ago, Garrity made a career-low eight saves in the Cannons' 15-14 loss to the Barrage.

IS THAT KRYPTONITE IN YOUR STICK?: Boston A Mark Millon currently stands as the league's all-time leader in points, but he has had some difficult times playing against the Philadelphia Barrage in his career ... Two weeks ago, Millon scored just two goals on 11 shots in the Cannons' 15-14 loss to Philadelphia at Nickerson Field, matching his lowest single-game goals total this season ... In the season opener, however, he made an impressive Boston debut with a four-goal, four-assist effort in the Cannons' 13-12 win ... In his career, Millon has scored just 22 goals with 17 assists in 10 career games ... The 22 goals are the fewest Millon has scored against any team other than Baltimore, which he played against for the first time last weekend.

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, RIPKEN: Three players in MLL history have played in all of their team's regular season games since the inception of the league five years ago and two of those players are playing against each other this weekend when Philadelphia takes on Boston ... Boston D Ryan Curtis and New Jersey A Scott Urick have played in every game for their respective teams, while Philadelphia D Brian Kuczma spent three seasons in a Cannons uniform before going to Philadelphia prior to last season.

LEVEILLE BACK AT IT AGAIN: Boston A Kevin Leveille has made great strides to improve his game over the last two seasons ... Last year, he recorded 40 points and led all Boston midfielders in scoring ... He scored 27 goals, ranking third on the team ... This season, Leveille is getting near those same totals with four games left in the regular season ... He has scored 25 goals with 10 assists to rank second on the Boston squad behind A Conor Gill ... Leveille set a team record with seven goals in the Cannons' June 18 win over Long Island to earn Bud Light MVP and MLL Offensive Player of the Week honors ... Leveille ranks fifth in the league in points (35) and second in goals (25) behind Baltimore A Gary Gait.

GET THE BALL TO SPRINGER: In the Barrage's win over the Cannons two weeks ago, Philadelphia A Michael Springer took a feed from Matt Striebel and scored the game-winning goal with just 12 seconds left to beat the Cannons for the third time in the last four meetings ... It was Springer's first game-winning goal of the season and just the second of his three-year MLL career ... Springer recorded a game-winning goal for the Barrage last year during their run to the MLL championship.

THE DOC HAS RETURNED TO THE OFFICE: Since returning from the injured reserve list three weeks ago, Philadelphia GK Brian Dougherty has had two outstanding games ... Against Boston on June 30, "Doc" made 22 saves and allowed 13 goals as the Barrage handed the Cannons their first loss of the season ... Against Rochester two weeks ago, Dougherty made 19 saves and allowed just 10 goals as the Barrage won their third game in the last four tries ... In the last three games, "Doc" has stopped 61.3 per cent of the shots he has faced and allowed an average of 12.6 goals per contest ... Dougherty ranks third in the league in save percentage (56.8%) and fourth in goals against average (14.4) ... Dougherty was named the Warrior Goalie of the Year during the 2003 season.

THREE-HEADED ATTACK: The Philadelphia attack unit of Ryan Boyle, Mike Springer and B.J. Prager have combined to score 55 of Philadelphia's 108 goals, which accounts for more than half of their offensive production ... In addition, the trio has accounted for 25 of the Barrage's 59 assists, which is good for 42.4 per cent of the team's assists this year ... Against Rochester two weeks ago, the attack unit scored 13 of the team's 25 goals and also added eight assists in a 26-15 win ... Boyle ranks third in the league in points with 39, while currently being tied with Baltimore A Tom Marechek in assists with 17 ... Boyle has scored more goals this season than his 17- goal performance last year.

GETTING CLOSER TO 300: Boston A Mark Millon is getting closer to becoming the first player in MLL history to record 300 career points ... Millon is now just 18 points shy of reaching the milestone ... In addition, Millon is just eight goals away from becoming the first player in MLL history to reach 200 career goals ... During the 2002 season, Millon was the first player to reach 100 career points ... Millon is in his first season with Boston after playing for Baltimore during the last four years ... He is a two-time Warrior Offensive Player of the Year award winner, winning the award during the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

TUG OF WAR: The battle for the career lead in assists has gone back and forth this season between Rochester A Casey Powell and Boston A Conor Gill ... At the beginning of the season, Gill held the career lead, but after Powell recorded a three-assist performance against New Jersey on June 30, Powell took over the lead with 116 career assists and has added eight assists in the last two games against the Barrage ... Gill was held without a point for the first time in 38 games in Boston's 15-14 loss to Philadelphia on June 30, but rebounded with back-to-back, three-assist performances against New Jersey and Baltimore and has 120 career assists ... Only four players have ever recorded 100 or more assists in league history ... In addition to Gill and Powell, current Rochester A Ryan Powell (101) and former New Jersey A Jon Hess (100) are the other players to reach the milestone for their career.

TALK ABOUT HAVING A CAREER NIGHT: Rochester A Andrew "Buggs" Combs had just eight career goals in two-plus MLL seasons before Thursday night's game against Philadelphia ... In the Rattlers' 14-10 win, the third-year attackman scored six goals to earn the first Bud Light MVP award of his career ... Five of his goals came during Rochester's game-opening 9-1 run ... He finished the game with six goals on just seven shots, helping Rochester win its second road game of the season.

MARECHEK HELD WITHOUT GOAL: For the first time this season, Baltimore A Tom Marechek was held without a goal in the Bayhawks' 20-17 win over Boston on Saturday night ... The one assist he recorded marked the fewest points registered in a single game by the former Syracuse star since he was held to just one assist in the Bayhawks' 17-13 loss to Philadelphia on July 31, 2004 ... Marechek is the league leader in points with 42 and is just three points shy of matching his personal season best of 45, which he set during the inaugural 2001 season.

BAYHAWKS FLYING HIGH: The Baltimore Bayhawks continue to lead the league in most offensive categories, including goals, two-point goals and assists ... In addition, they have the leading individual goal scorer, two-point goal scorer and assists leader in the league ... A Gary Gait leads the league with 29 goals in eight games, while M Mark Frye has seven two-point goals this season ... A Tom Marechek is having his best season ever as he also leads the league in hat tricks (6) and points (42) ... M Paul Cantabene is leading the league for the second straight season in face-off percentage and ground balls, while GK Trevor Tierney is the league's best goalkeeper in terms of save percentage and goals against average.

MR. CONSISTENCY: For the last 36 games, the Baltimore Bayhawks have been able to count on one player to score at least once - A and Player-Coach Gary Gait ... The 1991 Syracuse graduate has scored in every game since July 18, 2002 against the New Jersey Pride ... He is just under a season away from reaching the league mark of 46 straight games with a goal, set by New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard ... Gait's former teammate, Boston A Mark Millon, is also approaching Hubbard's mark ... He has scored a goal in 32 straight games, dating back to the beginning of the 2003 season ... He ranks third on Baltimore's all-time list for games with a consecutive goal behind Gait and A Tom Marechek ... New Jersey A Scott Urick was held scoreless for the first time in 25 games against the Bayhawks on June 5 ... His streak ends as the sixth longest in MLL history ... The streaks do not include postseason games.

TURF TROLL AT IT AGAIN: Baltimore M Paul Cantabene has returned to his face-off form of a year ago as he currently stands as the league leader in ground balls, face-off wins and face-off percentage ... Cantabene has won 146 of 240 draws he has taken, winning 60.8 per cent ... Meanwhile, he has also recorded 72 ground balls in eight games, including a league-high 15 loose balls against Long Island in Week Seven ... Last season, Cantabene set the single-season league record for face-off wins and ground balls with 238 and 156, respectively ... Cantabene holds the career lead in ground balls (488), face-off wins (896) and face-off win percentage (.551) ... Cantabene missed most of last week's game against Boston when he suffered a cut above his left eye ... He received seven stitches to close up the injury.

MORE ON THE TURF TROLL: Baltimore M Paul Cantabene is reaching some career milestones that could be obtained this season ... The former Loyola Greyhound is just 12 ground balls away from 500 for his career, while he is 104 face-off wins away from 1,000 for his career ... Entering this week, Cantabene has a career face-off percentage of .551, which is first on the all-time list.

WE'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER: For the New Jersey Pride, their most difficult games have been against the Baltimore Bayhawks ... Baltimore has defeated their National Division rival ten straight times, including a pair of wins this season ... The Bayhawks opened their season with a 21-12 win over New Jersey in Seattle on May 28 and continued their streak with a commanding 24-8 win the following week at Unitas Stadium ... New Jersey's last win in the series came on June 29, 2002 in a 22-17 decision at Commerce Bank Park ... Baltimore leads the all-time series by a 12-3 margin.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Long Island Lizards continued their five-game road trip with a 19-14 win over the New Jersey Pride on Saturday night, snapping a two-game losing streak ... This week, the Lizards travel to Rochester to face the Rattlers ... Earlier this season, Long Island earned a 17-14 win at Mitchel Athletic Complex over the Rattlers ... As a team, Long Island is 2-2 on the road this year with losses to Boston and Baltimore ... Baltimore is the only team which has won all of its road games this year, winning all four contests away from Unitas Stadium.

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: For the first time in MLL history, a team made a coaching change during the regular season ... Last week, New Jersey Coach Ted Georgalas and his assistant Frank Vitolo were relieved of their coaching duties and replaced with former Boston Cannons midfielder Brian Silcott ... Georgalas had coached every game in the Pride's history prior to being fired ... He had a career record of 24-35 (.406), but had won just two of the team's last 18 games ... He was the last coach still in the league from the inaugural 2001 season ... Silcott lost his coaching debut on Saturday night with a 19-14 setback to Long Island.

CAN WE PLAY ALL OF OUR GAMES IN MAY?: After splitting their two games in the month of May, the New Jersey Pride had a tough month of June, losing all four games during the month and dropping their record to 1-5 ... In fact, New Jersey has not won in the month of June since June 27, 2003 against the Boston Cannons in a 17-13 triumph, a stretch of eight games ... The last July win for the Pride came during the 2003 season as well when New Jersey handed Bridgeport a 22-14 defeat on July 31, 2003 ... New Jersey has lost 16 of its last 18 games over the last two seasons.

ROOKIES CONTINUE TO MAKE THEIR MARKS: The MLL Collegiate Class of 2005 is having a stellar season thus far ... So far this year, Rochester A Jason Doneger has been the leader with eight goals and two assists ... Meanwhile, New Jersey M Kyle Harrison has scored five goals with two assists since joining the Pride ... Boston A John Christmas has scored four goals with one assist in helping the Cannons to a 6- 2 start ... A pair of midfielders have also made an impact at the face-off "X" as Long Island's Jack deVilliers and New Jersey's Andy Corno have become their team's primary face-off specialists ... Baltimore M Benson Erwin scored his first career goal for the Bayhawks in their 19-8 win over Long Island two weeks ago.

BLEEDING ORANGE: The Rochester Rattlers have 10 players on their roster who played their college lacrosse at Syracuse, including 2005 Collegiate Draft pick Scott Ditzell ... In addition to the 10 former Syracuse players, Coach B.J. O'Hara served as an assistant coach for the Orange from 2002 to 2003 ... Five of Rochester's starters played at Syracuse, including the brother tandem of Casey Powell and Ryan Powell.

BLEEDING MORE ORANGE: The Bayhawks' starting attack unit of Gary Gait, Tom Marechek and Mikey Powell all hail from Syracuse ... Gait finished his college career with the Orange in 1990 after a stellar career which included 192 goals and 61 assists ... Marechek finished his career in 1992 ranked seventh on the career ledger for points with 258, scoring 182 goals in his four years ... Powell finished his SU career last year as the school's career leader in points with 307 ... His 157 career assists rank 4th alltime in Syracuse history ... The three players have combined to scored 114 points with 72 goals and 42 assists in the Bayhawks' 8-0 start this season.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... WE WANT MORE!: This year's class of draft-eligible players included five seniors from national champion Johns Hopkins University ... The Blue Jays had the most seniors in this year's draft class, followed by Drexel, Georgetown, Massachusetts, Syracuse and Virginia, which each have three draft-eligible seniors on the roster ... Of the five Blue Jays, four of them were selected in the Collegiate Draft led by M Kyle Harrison, who was picked with the first overall pick ... M Benson Erwin was selected fourth overall by the Bayhawks, while D Tom Garvey and A Kyle Barrie were taken in the second round.

CAN WE TURN THIS AROUND?: A year ago, the Philadelphia Barrage turned a 1- 11 season into a 7-5 record during the regular season and the MLL championship ... This year, the New Jersey Pride are hoping to do the same ... After tying the league record for fewest wins and most losses in a single season, the Pride are looking to turn things around ... The 1-11 record included 11 straight losses after a season-opening win over Philadelphia in the Barrage's debut in the City of Brotherly Love ... New Jersey is currently on a six-game losing streak and stands in a tie for second place in the National Division along with Rochester.

NEW BALANCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND MAKES RETURN TO BOSTON: For the second straight season, the New Balance Major League Lacrosse Championship Weekend returns to Boston University's Nickerson Field on August 19 and 21 ... Last year, over 15,000 fans came to home field of the Boston Cannons for three games, including an MLL-postseason record crowd of 8,273 for the title game between the Philadelphia Barrage and the Cannons ... The format for selecting the teams will remain the same for the 2005 season, as the two division champions and two teams with the next best records (regardless of division) advance to play for the league championship ... The championship game will air live on ESPN2 on Sunday, August 21 at 1:00 p.m. in the finale of the MLL Game of the Week package.

MLL RETURNS TO ESPN2 FOR 2005: For the third straight season, Major League Lacrosse returns to ESPN2 as the "Game of the Week" package features 12 exciting games during the season ... Games will air on Tuesday afternoons beginning at 4:00 p.m. unless otherwise designated ... The Barrage take on the Cannons this week in the third and final game of their American Division series at Nickerson Field ... Each team will appear on the broadcast at least three times during the regular season ... The defending MLL champions will appear four times.

TEAM NEWS AND NOTES

BALTIMORE BAYHAWKS (8-0): The Bayhawks extended their win streak to eight straight games with a 20-17, come-from-behind victory over the Boston Cannons on Saturday night ... Baltimore has won 10 straight regular season games, dating back to a 17-13 loss to Philadelphia on July 31, 2004 at Unitas Stadium ... That was also the last time Baltimore has lost at home, a streak of five straight wins ... The 12-8 half-time deficit by the Bayhawks was just the second time this season they have trailed at the intermission this season ... Baltimore also trailed by 10-2 at Rochester on June 18 ... A Gary Gait scored four goals to go with an assist in earning his fifth Bud Light Game MVP award of the season and the 13th of his career ... He is tied with former teammate and current Long Island GK Greg Cattrano for second on the league's all-time list ... Gait also became the sixth player in MLL history to record 200 career points with his five-point performance against the Cannons ... He has now scored a goal in 36 consecutive games, just 10 away from the league record set by New Jersey A Jesse Hubbard ... A Tom Marechek was held without a goal for the first time this season, but recorded an assist for the 13th straight game and recorded a point in his 29th straight game, dating back to the 2003 season opener ... M Mark Frye continues to be the league's most accurate shooter from two-point range, scoring his eighth two-point goal of the season in the win over the Cannons ... He is just three shy of the league record, which was set by Boston M Mike Regan during the 2003 season ... Prior to this season, Frye had eight two-point goals in his entire career ... M Ben DeFelice filled in for M Paul Cantabene at the face-off "X" after Cantabene left the game to get stitches above his left eye during the first quarter ... DeFelice won a career-high 19 draws in 33 attempts against Boston M Peter Inge and Peter Jenkins ... The Bayhawks will look to extend their win streak to nine straight when they host the New Jersey Pride in the first game of a two-game homestand ... Baltimore has won 10 straight against the National Division rival and has won 12 of 15 all-time meetings.

BOSTON CANNONS (6-2): The Cannons lost their second straight home game with a 20-17 setback against the league-leading Bayhawks on Saturday night ... It is the fifth straight season Boston has lost back-to-back games at home ... A Conor Gill became the fifth player in MLL history to record 200 or more points with a twogoal, three-assist performance against the Bayhawks ... He recorded the milestone with an assist on M Mike Battista's second two-point goal of the first quarter ... Battista tallied a career-high seven points with four goals, including a pair of two-pointers, with an assist ... GK Chris Garrity recorded a career-high 25 saves in the loss to the Bayhawks, eclipsing the previous mark of 24 he set during the past two seasons ... Garrity suffered his first loss against Baltimore in four career meetings against the Bayhawks ... In addition, Garrity allowed a season-high 18 goals in addition to a pair of two-point goals ... M Chris Fiore extended his streak of consecutive games with a goal to 20 straight after scoring two goals in the loss to Baltimore ... A Mark Millon scored just one goal in the loss to Baltimore, but the goal extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one goal with 32 straight, which ranks fourth on the league's all-time list ... D Ryan Curtis held the league's leading scorer, Baltimore A Tom Marechek, to just one assist in the loss ... The Cannons will look to snap the two-game home losing streak when they host the Philadelphia Barrage on Saturday night ... Boston will be looking to avoid losing the regular season series against the Barrage for the second straight year ... Philadelphia has won four of the last five meetings in the series, including last year's 13-11 victory in the New Balance MLL Championship Game at Nickerson Field.

LONG ISLAND LIZARDS (4-4): The Lizards snapped a two-game losing streak with their 19-14 win over the New Jersey Pride on Saturday night ... The win was the first road victory for Long Island since a 19-14 decision over Philadelphia at Villanova Stadium on June 4 ... M Blake Miller was one of five players to record a hat trick in the win over New Jersey ... Miller also added an assist in the win ... GK Greg Cattrano matched his season- high with 23 saves in the win ... He was also named the Bud Light MVP for the 13th time in his MLL career, which ties him for second on the all-time list with Baltimore A Gary Gait, who earned his fifth award of the season against Boston ... The Lizards are currently 1-1 on their five-game road trip and will travel to Rochester to face the Rattlers on Saturday night in a rematch of Long Island's 17-14 win on May 27 at Mitchel Athletic Complex.

NEW JERSEY PRIDE (1-7): The Pride lost their seventh straight game after a 19-14 setback against Long Island at Sprague Field on Saturday evening ... The loss spoiled the MLL coaching debut of Pride Coach Brian Silcott, who was named to the position on Thursday afternoon after the team relieved Ted Georgalas of his coaching duties ... A Scott Urick scored a game-high four goals in the loss to Long Island on Saturday night, while A Jesse Hubbard matched his season high with three goals in the loss ... He has scored just six goals in five games this season ... M Peter Vlahakis won 22 of 31 faceoffs in a losing effort for the Pride ... Vlahakis won 14 of the first 16 draws to help New Jersey to an 8-6 halftime lead, marking just the second time this year the Pride have led after the first quarter ... Rookie M Graham Gill scored two goals in the loss to Long Island ... It was his second straight two-goal game ... He ranks third among MLL rookies in scoring with six goals and one assist ... The Pride travel to Baltimore this week in their latest attempt to snap the seven-game skid ... New Jersey has not beaten Baltimore since the 2002 season in a 22-17 win at Commerce Bank Ballpark.

PHILADELPHIA BARRAGE (3-5): Philadelphia saw an end to its two-game win streak with a 14-10 loss to Rochester on Thursday night ... The loss avenged the Barrage's 26-15 win over Rochester two weeks ago at Bishop Kearney Field ... GK Brian Dougherty made 16 saves in 30 shots in the loss for Philadelphia ... Since returning from a thumb injury, Dougherty has allowed less than 13 goals per game and stopped over 60 per cent of the shots he has faced ... A Ryan Boyle has already surpassed his goals total of a year ago with his 22 tallies this year ... He is also just six points shy of matching his 45 points from last season (17 goals, 28 assists) ... The Barrage will look to take the season series from the Cannons for the second straight season when Boston hosts the Barrage at Nickerson Field on Saturday night.

ROCHESTER RATTLERS (2-6): The Rattlers improved to 2-6 on the season after taking a 14-10 victory over the Philadelphia Barrage on Thursday night in the second game of the home-and-home series ... It was Rochester's first-ever win in Philadelphia and just the second against the Barrage since the team moved to Philadelphia prior to last season ... The Rattlers were without several players due to injury and work commitments ... A Ryan Powell and M Justin Smith missed the game because of injury while rookie A Jason Doneger was unable to play because of a work commitment ... A Dennis Juleff and Andrew "Buggs" Combs filled in for Powell and Doneger on the attack units and had career nights ... Juleff scored the first two goals of his MLL career in the win, while Combs scored a career-high six goals on just seven shots ... Combs nearly doubled his career total in the win over Philadelphia ... Entering last week, Combs had scored just eight goals in his two-plus years in the league ... Combs is tied for the team lead in goals with 13 ... Rochester ends the regular season with three of its last four games at home, including this Saturday's meeting with Long Island.

Major League Lacrosse Stories from July 18, 2005

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