By Craig Potter
Rochester goes scoreless for nearly 42 minutes in the 13-7 loss to the Cannons.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Rattlers had their 5-game winning streak snapped by the Boston Cannons, 13-7, on Saturday evening at the Wegmans Sports Complex at Aquinas Institute.
The game was close for the first 6-and-a-half minutes, tied 3-3 before the Cannons scored 4 goals in a minute-10 span, while holding the Rattlers off the scoreboard for the next 42 minutes.
“I think it’s a combination of us feeling a little too happy with ourselves and the fact that they had a good game plan against us,” said Rattlers head coach Tim Soudan. “Early in the game, Tyler Fiority, their goalie, made a bunch of good saves and we started getting tight.
“Every time we had a good opportunity on the cage we were over-thinking things and we weren’t burying goals there.
Neither team could score for the next 21 minutes until the Cannons finally got one with 12.9 seconds left in the first half. Boston tacked on 3 goals in the third quarter.
“We were making a lot of errors that were uncharacteristic to us,” Soudan said. “Errors in substitution that we hadn’t had all year. We’re in our ninth game and we’re making substitution errors, which is unheard of for us.”
Jeremy Boltus finally broke the scoring drought for Rochester with 12:19 to play in the fourth quarter. The Rattlers entered the game averaging 14.6 goals per game.
“I was glad to see we picked it up a bit in the fourth quarter, but we were a little too late,: Soudan said.
Rochester was led by Jordan Wolf, who finished with three goals. The Rattlers also got points from Boltus, who also registered an assist. Others who scored for Rochester included John Ranagan, Michael Lazore, and Ty Thompson, who scored one goal each. Rattlers who recorded 1 assist apiece were Joel White, Jesse King, and Kip Orban.
Rochester goalie John Galloway recorded 18 saves. Fiorito finished with 12 saves, many of the spectacular variety, in gaining the win.
“I don’t know why our heads weren’t in it after the way we lost our first game to those guys,” said Soudan of the 16-15 overtime defeat in Boston after the Cannons tied the game on a 2-point, 80-yard shot and goal at the buzzer.
“We’ve done a good job. We’ve swept two teams in this league but we just got swept by Boston. Now we’re back trying to get the wins we need to get into the playoffs.”
The Rattlers were in the MLL championship game the past two seasons, but ended up squandering a fourth-quarter lead both times.
Rochester (5-4) failed to gain a tie with the first-place New York Lizards (6-3). The Charlotte Hounds (6-3), the Rattlers next opponent on July 16 at Aquinas, also moved into a first-place tie. The Hounds beat the Rattlers in their first meeting this season in Charlotte.
Dhane Smith to join Rattlers
Dhane Smith, who led the Buffalo Bandits to the Champion’s Cup final this past winter in the National Lacrosse League and established a new single-season scoring record in the process, will start practicing with the Rattlers this week.
“Whether he’s healthy or not, he said he’s going to come to practice and get around the guys to see where he’s at,” Soudan said. “Hopefully we’ll see if we’ve got a diamond in the rough there.”
The team is hopeful Smith’s injury, which has kept him sidelined thus far, will be healed so he came make his Major League Lacrosse debut with the Rattlers at their next home game on July 16 against MLL co-leader Charlotte. The MLL All-Star game is July 9.
Links
Rochester Rattlers – rochesterrattlers.com
Videos
Jeremy Boltus goal – https://youtu.be/QIckyOJNq5c
Ty Thompson goal – https://youtu.be/rAXRcnhx26Y
Michael Lazore goal – https://youtu.be/ew6mydzbGy8
Jordan Wolf goal – https://youtu.be/gR-a5Cd6ZkA
Coach Tim Soudan interview – https://youtu.be/r_1eFoxekmA