Nationals Begin Road Trip Thursday at Ohio
May 22, 2013 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Hamilton Nationals News Release
May 22, 2013 - The Hamilton Nationals will hit the road for four straight road games, beginning with a Thursday night contest against the Ohio Machine. The game on May 23rd is a 7:30 p.m. start and will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network.
Scouting the Nationals: Hamilton (3-0) is off to the best start in team history thanks to a dramatic 16-15 overtime victory over the Charlotte Hounds last Friday at Ron Joyce Stadium. Matt Dolente's goal seven seconds into the extra session propelled Hamilton into a tie for first place in Major League Lacrosse. The Nationals also tied their consecutive wins record after earning their third straight victory. Joe Walters (3+2) and Stephen Keogh (4+0), fresh off back-to-back NLL titles, powered the Hamilton offense. Kevin Crowley, who leads the team in points, chipped in two goals and two assists. Brent Herbst played the second half and earned the first win of his MLL career. Brodie Merrill and Jordan Hall both reached milestones. Merrill played in his 50th game as a National, which is first on the team's all-time list, while Hall hit 50 career games. Rookies Reid Acton and Tucker Durkin made their MLL debuts last game.
Nationals among MLL leaders: Crowley (7+1+6) is tied for fourth in the MLL with 14 points. Goalie Brett Queener leads the league with a 7.09 goals-against average and a .724 save percentage. Merrill is sixth in the league with 20 ground balls, while Dolente is seventh with 19.
Go Tigers: After the game, defenseman MJ Kiekebelt will head to Philadelphia to join the RIT Tigers, as they prepare for Sunday's Division III Men's Lacrosse National Championship Game. Kiekebelt is a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater.
Milestones within reach: - Queener is 21 saves away from 400 as a National; - Joe Walters and Crowley are both riding 18-game point streaks and are two shy of breaking the team record; - Walters is one assist away from 100 in his career.
Champions already: Five members of the National Lacrosse League champion Rochester Knighthawks were added to the Nationals' roster last week. The Nationals activated Joe Walters and Stephen Keogh, moved Cody Jamieson to the active roster and placed defensemen Sid Smith and Matt Vinc on the practice squad. In the NLL title game, Walters (1+5) and Jamieson (3+3) both had big games in the 11-10 victory on March 11th over the Washington Stealth. Jamieson was named the Championship Game MVP for the second straight season, becoming just the second player in NLL history to accomplish that feat. Smith was the team captain of the Knighthawks and Keogh contributed with five points (1+4) in two playoff games. Vinc made 39 saves to become the first netminder to win Goalie of the Year and the NLL Champion's Cup in the same season.
Scouting Ohio: The Machine fell to 0-3 this season after dropping a 14-8 decision to the New York Lizards last Saturday. Ohio was led by two goals from Chazz Woodson, who is tied for third on the team in points. The Machine fell behind 5-0 in the first quarter and never caught up, getting within two points twice in the contest. Steele Stanwick leads Ohio with five points (2+3) in three games. The Machine have struggled offensively, failing to reach double digits in points in all three games. They enter Thursday's game with a league-low 21 goals.
Next Game: Hamilton stays on the road as it visits the defending MLL Champion Chesapeake Bayhawks on Saturday, June 1st in Annapolis, Md. The contest will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network.
• Discuss this story on the Major League Lacrosse message board...
Major League Lacrosse Stories from May 22, 2013
- Nationals Begin Road Trip Thursday at Ohio - Hamilton Nationals
- Machine Announce Rookies' Debuts - Ohio Machine
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
