By CRAIG POTTER
Jordan Wolf scores the game-winner to beat the Ohio Machine, 14-13.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Rattlers held off the Ohio Machine, 14-13, on Saturday night before the largest crowd (3,431) of the season at Capelli Sport Stadium to gain the Major League Lacrosse playoffs.
The Rattlers (8-6) will travel to No. 1 seed Denver next Saturday in a semifinal game. The Rattlers won both games from the Outlaws, who are the defending MLL champions.
“Game-planning starts,” said Rattlers coach Tim Soudan. “I’m just really proud of our guys. We didn’t play the most solid game 60 minutes of lacrosse tonight as far as mistakes, but when we needed to, we managed the game well at the end.
“The first half was strange. We had a lot of opportunities, we just didn’t finish.”
The Rattlers trailed 10-8 at intermission, but the defense stepped up and limited the Machine to just 3 goals in the second half. Matt Dunn and Donny Moss, among others, have been key on defense during this 3-game winning streak.
“Just playing a complete game,” Dunn said. “We gave up a lot in the first half, a lot of breakdowns and communication on our part so we had to do a better job. Once we got that down, we did a lot better in the second half.”
Ohio earned the No. 2 seed as the Machine and Outlaws both finished with 9-5 records. Denver held the tie-breaker on goal differential, 25-24, as the teams split their two games. Ohio will be host to No. 3 Florida Launch in the other semifinal game next Saturday. It is the Launch’s first playoff appearance in their history.
Jordan Wolf, who missed the last two Rochester games with an injury, was the fourth player to score a hat trick (3 goals) and have 1 assist.
“Jordan Wolf came up huge with that goal (team’s 14th) after he got that guy hung,” Soudan said.
His third tally, with 1:29 left in regulation, turned out to be the game-winner.
“I’m not 100 percent, but I did the best I did,” Wolf said.
Ty Thompson, John Ranagan, and Jordan MacIntosh also netted 4 points on 3 goals and 1 assist for the Rattlers. Drew Simoneau and Conor Gately scored 1 goal each for Rochester as Ned Crotty, also missed last week’s game, collected 2 assists.
Goalie John Galloway finished with 23, many of the spectacular variety, in earning the win. He played a crucial role the past 3 games to get the team into the playoffs.
“At 4 and 6 we didn’t know where we were going to be,” Galloway said. “The team battled. We had a different roster every game and we found a way to win. It’s just a fun group.”
Links
Rochester Rattlers – www.rochesterrattlers.com
Videos
Jordan Wolf goal – https://youtu.be/930-AklmpjM
Final 30 seconds – https://youtu.be/9UL5qoItVVk
John Galloway save – https://youtu.be/H0qGvqbXABE
Matt Dunn interview – https://youtu.be/C9FRv1UGOzs
John Galloway interview – https://youtu.be/rIux_OTyVqI
Jordan Wolf interview – https://youtu.be/Y9AVpPQDaP0
Tim Soudan interview – https://youtu.be/IvXxRloy2ZY