Rattlers Fall in Home Opener
June 2, 2019 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Dallas Rattlers News Release
Frisco, TX - The Dallas Rattlers fell to the Chesapeake Bayhawks 14-11 at Ford Center at The Star in the regular season opener on Sunday afternoon.
The Rattlers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game with goals from hometown attackman Bryce Wasserman, who was playing in his Rattlers' debut. Dallas midfielder Luke Wittenberg- who was also making his MLL debut- scored four goals on five shots in the game, and added both one assist and one groundball. Wittenberg was selected by Dallas in the sixth round of the 2019 MLL Collegiate Draft. Midfielder Donny Moss led the Rattlers in groundballs with five, and Ryan McNamara led the team in shots with nine. McNamara, who had 23 goals and 10 assists last year, had two of Dallas' 11 goals in Sunday afternoon's loss.
The Bayhawks, on the other hand, were led by Lyle Thompson, who had six points (four goals, two assists) on seven shots in the contest, and Steele Stanwick, who had a goal and five assists. Thompson and teammate Matt Abbott led Chesapeake in shots with seven each. Isaiah Davis-Allen led all players in groundballs with six and added both a goal and an assist.
The Rattlers led the Bayhawks at both the end of the first quarter and the end of the first half but were unable to recover from a late Chesapeake surge which saw several scores in the closing few minutes of the game.
FROM THE TEAM
"We played some great defense, the goaltending was exceptional, we just made too many mistakes in the game and we've gotta clean that up." - Coach Warder on the team's play vs. Chesapeake
"I thought it went pretty well. [We] started off pretty hot scored some goals early and I think that fed us. We had a little bit of a slump there in the fourth quarter that kind of shot us in the foot. At this point, it's the little plays that we need to make then we can start to win some games." - Luke Wittenberg on how the team progressed through the game
"Focusing on little plays and the clearing game. I don't think we were very efficient in the clearing game today. If we clean that up, we will have more offensive possessions, [and can] hopefully put the ball in the back of the net a little more." - Wittenberg on what to improve on for the rest of the season
CARSON-BANISTER MAKES 14 SAVES IN FIRST MLL START
Rattlers' goaltender and Dallas' native Christian Carson-Banister made his MLL debut on Sunday, stopping 14 of 28 shots for a .500 save percentage.
"From a goaltending standpoint, he made a ton of saves and kept us in the game, and we struggled clearing the ball," Coach Warder said of Carson-Banister's play. "We gave them too many resets and too many chances offensively."
STAT PACK
Face-off specialist Casey Dowd won 11 of 29 (37.93 percent) of faceoffs in the game.
Defensemen Greg Danseglio and Greg Weyl both had two caused turnovers in the game.
The Rattlers had a total of 19 shots on goal, 34 groundballs, and 19 turnovers in the game. Chesapeake had 28 shots on goal, 44 groundballs, and 19 turnovers.
Attendance for tonight's game was 6,112.
The Rattlers return to action Sunday, June 9, at Ford Center for Sports City USA Day, to faceoff against the Boston Cannons.
Major League Lacrosse Stories from June 2, 2019
- Rattlers Fall in Home Opener - Dallas Rattlers
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.
