Pride Downed Again in OT
July 26, 2007 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
New Jersey Pride News Release
PISCATAWAY - In what has become an unfortunately familiar scenario the Pride dropped another overtime game as they fell to the Philadelphia Barrage 12-11 at Rutgers Yurcak Field on a Seth Goldberg goal. The Pride previously lost both matchups against Washington in overtime.
"I'm proud of our guys," Jacobs said. "I feel like we fought tooth and nail. Overall we played pretty well, and we lost a tight overtime game to one of the best teams in the league."
The game was an up-and-down battle, with several lead changes, but ultimately Bud Lite MVP Andy Corno's dominance at face-off was too much for the Pride to overcome. Corno won 20-of-25 draws against Pride rookie specialist Chris Colliniates.
"Chris never had his mind in the game," Jacobs said. "It's tough for a kid right out of college. He was at his job at seven in the morning, and he left at five to be here.
"He told me his head just wasn't in it, but that's one of the adjustments he's going to have to make. He's a rookie, and we paid for it tonight."
Goldberg had a chance to put the Barrage ahead with under two minutes remaining, but Rob Scherr stoned the Philadelphia attackman on the crease to force the extra session, one of 15 stops the Pride netminder made on the night.
"I just played it like any other play," Scherr said. "It ended up being a pretty big save though, as it forced the game into overtime."
Scherr was knocked out of the game briefly in the third quarter following a save.
"Roy Colsey took a two-point shot that hit me in the cup," Scherr said. "He actually cracked the cup, but luckily I had another one in my bag.
The Barrage had a chance to finish the game earlier in the final session, but Ryan McClay's hustle broke up a two-on-one opportunity. The Pride however were unable to capitalize on the play, and following another turnover, Kevin Cassesse found Goldberg on another two-on-one for the winner.
"I think our defense is underrated in the league," Jacobs said. "I love our defense to death, and I wish they got the accolades they deserve. I still think we have one of the top defenses in the league."
The defensive unit was stellar for the Pride, including Brett Hughes' effort in holding Ryan Boyle to only one point.
"With Hughes on Boyle, we said âdon't slide to Boyle'" Jacobs said, "because Hughes has got him."
The overtime period and the game's latter stages were plagued with slipping players, as the cool night brought about a slick dew.
"We lost a little composure in overtime," Jacobs said. "When the grass got slippery, I told the guys to make one move and go, as opposed to dodging back and forth, because as soon as guys tried to plant, they were going down.
The loss drops the Pride to 3-7, and while MLL officials have stated they remain mathematically alive, it is hard not to think "What if?" about the teams three overtime defeats.
"Two years in a row [we had three overtime losses,]" Jacobs said. "I think it's my fault. It's one of those things where we are still trying to change the mentality of this team from when we were 1-11 and 2-10.
"We could easily be 6-4 right now, and it's very frustrating."
"The team fought real hard; I think we have all season," Kyle Harrison said. "It's impossible not to look back and think âwhat if we had beat [Washington] twice."
It took the Pride just 2:28 to match their first half production from the teams' first meeting when Kyle Harrison swam into free space and fired home a two-point goal to take a 2-0 lead.
Conor Ford extended the Pride's lead three minutes later, beating Dougherty to give the Pride the 3-0 advantage.
Philadelphia answered with a three goal run when Michael Springer found Goldberg and Roy Colsey, and Matt Striebel added an unassisted tally at 13:39 of the first.
Adam Doneger closed the period with a score from in-close after freeing up space with a deep shot-fake with just four seconds left in the quarter.
The Pride extended their lead when Ford found Joe Yevoli alone in-deep 5:50 into the second period. Scott Urick brought the lead back to three with a low-to-low stripe on his way to the ground at the 7:15 mark.
Following a wild scramble, Kyle Sweeney found Tim Byrnes in transition, matching the Pride's late score in the first quarter with a score at 14:56 of the second to bring the half to a close with the Pride ahead 6-4.
The goal ended a 16:17 scoreless streak led by Brett Hughes frequent interceptions and Scherr's dominance in goal. Scherr stopped 9-of-13 Barrage shots in the opening half.
The Barrage used a string of face-off victories to erase the deficit as Springer scored just 44 seconds into the half and Colsey added his second one minute later.
Urick re-established the Pride lead when Hubbard found him in traffic and Urick fired low. Dougherty got a piece of it, but the ball deflected off the goalie into the side netting, giving the Pride the 7-6 edge.
Springer added his third assist of the game when he found Kevin Cassesse 7:13 into the half, and following a doorstep save my Dougherty, scored his second of the half on a Matt Zash feed to give the Barrage their first lead.
The Pride snatched the lead back when Matt Rewkowski fired a two-pointer past Dougherty as the shot clock expired for the 9-8 advantage with 4:54 to play in the third.
Yevoli hit Greg Peyser with a feed to extend the Pride's lead to 10-8 early in the fourth, but Andy Corno, who won # of # draws for Philadelphia, took the ensuing draw down to score to cut the margin to one.
Corno won the following draw as well, and Ryan Boyle scored his first goal of the day with a spin to goal to again even the score. Jed Prossner gave the Barrage their second lead of the game 11-10 at 3:42 of the fourth.
Yevoli knotted the score for the fifth time with five minutes to play. Rewkowski fired a shot wide with the shot clock winding down and Yevoli scooped up the errant effort and dumped it into the empty net.
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Major League Lacrosse Stories from July 26, 2007
- Pride Downed Again in OT - New Jersey Pride
- Barrage Beat Pride in Overtime Thirller - Philadelphia Barrage
- Riptide to Host The Pet Staff Dog Days of Summer - Los Angeles Riptide
- Bayhawks Newsletter - Chesapeake Bayhawks
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