Dallas will face the Denver Outlaws for the championship.
FRISCO, TX. — Less than two weeks after suffering their first home loss of the season — a 13-12 defeat at the hands of this very New York Lizards squad — the Dallas Rattlers reestablished their run of dominance at the Star in Frisco, TX., before 6,124 fans, booking a trip to next Saturday’s MLL championship with a convincing 15-12 win over the New York Lizards.
Dallas’ opponent will be a familiar one, as the Denver Outlaws, who defeated the Chesapeake Bayhawks 13-12 in the day’s first semifinal matchup, defeated the then-Rochester Rattlers to win the Steinfeld Cup back in 2014.
The Rattlers were led by faceoff midfielder Drew Simoneau, who not only won 24 of 31 draws, but added a goal and ten ground balls as well. New York unsuccessfully dispatched Thomas Kelly, Brendan Fowler, Troy Reh and Jake Bernhardt in an attempt to disrupt his dominance at the position, but there was no answer for Simoneau’s draw control, nor for the wing play of Joel White, who added two goals and ten ground balls of his own, even picking off Reh’s pass following one of the Lizards’ successful draws.
With Simoneau controlling possessions, Jordan Wolf (2g, 2a) and the Dallas attack sparked an offense that jumped out to a 6-1 lead by the end of the first quarter. A balanced midfield handled much of the offensive initiation throughout the remaining quarters; Randy Staats scored two goals and a pair of assists in just his third game of the season, while Ned Crotty and John Ranagan each recorded a goal and two assists on the evening.
Mike Manley (from Penn Yan) and an aggressive Dallas defense prevented the Lizards from taking advantage of their limited opportunities early in the game, but the same aggression almost proved to be their undoing, as the Lizards scored two extra-man goals following a John Moderski illegal body check towards the end of the second quarter. The goals closed the Dallas lead to 9-5 heading into halftime, and the Lizards parlayed their momentum with a Paul Rabil (1g, 1a) goal to kick off the third quarter. The Rattlers responded by scoring three goals in under two minutes, effectively negating New York’s entire run, and while the Lizards outscored the Rattlers 6-3 the rest of the way (including a shorthanded goal from Will Manny [2g] and a three-goal run to end the game), they were never able to reduce Dallas’ to a single possession.
Rob Pannell led all scorers with three goals and two assists, the MVP frontrunner and Dallas defender Matt Dunn waging an epic battle throughout much of the game. In addition to his face-off and defensive responsibilities, Jake Bernhardt led the Lizards’ midfield with three goals and an assist.