Has Florida’s MLL Franchise Turned The Corner?
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
Pictures courtesy of Julie O’Brien Photography – http://www.julieobrienphotography.com/
When Major League Lacrosse announced in November that the Hamilton franchise was being disbanded/transferred to Boca Raton that set off a short-lived buzz of excitement in the lacrosse community in Florida. Some of the local media covered the announcement and some did not. Skepticism was considered in some quarters and optimism in others. MLL had tested the market in both 2012 and 2013, hosting the MLL All-Star game in 2012 and a Hamilton-Rochester regular season tilt in 2013, and both attracted significant crowds that pointed to the potential of the market.
Those of us who have been residing in the area of South Florida knew that the local sports market is somewhat unique and that those two games were more viewed as ‘events to attend’ as opposed to ‘our team competing for a championship’. And it’s fair to say that when the season started a number of fans that showed up to the games did so for the spectacle instead of the team. The major exception to this would be the kids, who saw an opportunity to bond to a local professional team that did not require a lengthy car ride to Miami or Miramar. And as the home schedule went on the casual fan started to stay home and it wasn’t really replaced by the dedicated one as attendance fell over time.
Until last Saturday.
The game started out like many of the other recent Launch games during their slump as Boston took a 6-2 lead early in the second and it sounded again like the fans had been taken out of the game along with the team.
But then something interesting happened.
Behind the play of the team’s youngsters, helped out by the newcomers obtained in the Kevin Crowley trade (Steven Brooks, David Earl and John Hayes), the team put on an offensive exhibition that slowly gathered momentum and the game turned in Florida’s favor.
And the crowd finally got into it in the way fans of other sports understand . . . as a fan of the team, not as a fan of the sport.
And as the lead lengthened into the fourth quarter the intensity in the crowd took flight with it. Then when the game got chippy with about 5 minutes left the light switch went on for good. No, they weren’t cheering the chippiness; they were cheering their local team standing up for themselves and not backing down.
They were ‘our boys’. Finally.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have field access for home games and I tend to stand near the bench during at least half the game (sometimes I sit in the stands to be able to get a feel for how the atmosphere is there, and frankly to catch up with a couple of local lacrosse leaders too). With the exception of the first few games, when the newness of the team and the success of the early start, the chemistry was not quite where it could be. A lot of that was the absurd amount of turnover in the team roster game to game as the NLL Indoor season kept players from playing as well as the newness of getting to know each other.
Then when the losing streak occurred the normal issue of chemistry became compounded as players tried to do too much and the lack of practice time (weather killed a number of opportunities, particularly on Friday nights) hurt the team’s ability to improve. The balance on offense between attack and midfield was off and the defense struggled, both at close defense and defensive middie.
And when that happens, inevitably it hurts the locker room chemistry some too. Nothing so bad as bad blood between players or anything like that. Just the issue of not being able to put it all together for 60 minutes, with the second Denver game really standing out as the Launch failed to finish a game they led by four goals in the second half as they had totally outplayed and outhustled Denver to that point.
Florida then took the major step of making a huge trade deadline transaction with Chesapeake. They traded Kevin Crowley, last year’s MVP of MLL, for the aforementioned Brooks, Earl and Hayes.
In one fell swoop the offensive balance come into place. The team went from a number of players who like to carry and create their own offense (scoring was not a problem but as games went on the offense would have extended droughts) to one that was able to start to implement a lot more off-ball movement. It also helped to establish what Coach Ross is looking for in that players were starting to buy in to the off-ball movement. It also helped already in the goals against category as all three can play both ways.
And it also added another element in that Kieran McArdle, who is likely to compete for MLL Rookie of the Year with Jordan Wolf of Rochester, moved up the list as far as getting more looks. Both Kevin Crowley and Casey Powell are main playmakers and McArdle had to play a little more off his natural game. McArdle is now on a tear and looking very comfortable with his role. Kevin Cunnigham had his best game as a pro and I don’t think it is a fluke as he also now has more room to play off ball. When playing, Mario Ventiquattro has also taken advantage of the new approach to play the role of cutter towards the goal, occupying the defense even if it doesn’t show on the scoreboard.
Another factor in Saturday’s game was the return of Josh Amidon, who provides a defensive midfield toughness and has the size to take on a player like Paul Rabil. Although Rabil was officially credited with 3G/5A it was kind of a quiet 8 point call, if that makes sense (a number of those points came when Florida had already taken a big lead). And when he stays out on the field he gives the opposing defense something to think about given he has the long-range to keep the defense honest at the 2-point line. Jordan Hall also stepped up his game offensively as the midfield really stepped up big – 10G/5A among Earl, Brooks, Hall, etc.
But then we have to come to what was one of, if not the biggest reason, Saturday’s game turned around. Chris Mattes went 27-44 at the faceoff circle after starting out slowly. It was his performance that allowed the offense to get into a rhythm as the Launch were able to put together goal scoring streaks twice, providing the margin of victory.
Throw in Brett Queener’s game in goal (with an assist in the fourth from Adam Fullerton); Brett didn’t really make the spectacular save on Saturday but he made the KEY saves. He helped keep the Launch in the game early with 4 saves in the 7th but then he really came up big in the 3rd with 7 saves. Again, it wasn’t that so many were highlight reels in there, it was an excellent game of reading the shot and positioning. And those 7 saves really took the steam out of Boston’s comeback efforts in the third. Although the Launch did give up 17 goals total Boston was not able to go on any appreciable runs of their own in the last three quarters and the timing of the saves combined with Mattes’ heroics kept Florida comfortably ahead in the second half.
And gives Florida hope going into Boston for the re-match. They control their own destiny. Two road wins and they are in. And if it happens, on a three-game winning streak.
Making them a dangerous team in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, back near the bench, you could feel it. The team chemistry was very high, as pretty much everyone was contributing and the players were more encouraging to each other than they were earlier in the summer.
And you could feel it in the stands too.
Ready to go all in.
Now it’s up to the team to market it hard over the summer.
Because finally, there might well be a ‘there there’ to pursue. Thanks to Saturday night.
Launch fans should tune in tomorrow afternoon for the most important game of the year”
http://www.floridalaunchlacrosse.com/news/10390/game-13-at-boston-cannons-preview/
Behind the play of the team’s youngsters, helped out by the newcomers obtained in the Kevin Crowley trade (Steven Brooks, David Earl and John Hayes), the team put on an offensive exhibition that slowly gathered momentum and the game turned in Florida’s favor.
And the crowd finally got into it in the way fans of other sports understand . . . as a fan of the team, not as a fan of the sport.
And as the lead lengthened into the fourth quarter the intensity in the crowd took flight with it. Then when the game got chippy with about 5 minutes left the light switch went on for good. No, they weren’t cheering the chippiness; they were cheering their local team standing up for themselves and not backing down.
They were ‘our boys’. Finally.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have field access for home games and I tend to stand near the bench during at least half the game (sometimes I sit in the stands to be able to get a feel for how the atmosphere is there, and frankly to catch up with a couple of local lacrosse leaders too). With the exception of the first few games, when the newness of the team and the success of the early start, the chemistry was not quite where it could be. A lot of that was the absurd amount of turnover in the team roster game to game as the NLL Indoor season kept players from playing as well as the newness of getting to know each other.
Then when the losing streak occurred the normal issue of chemistry became compounded as players tried to do too much and the lack of practice time (weather killed a number of opportunities, particularly on Friday nights) hurt the team’s ability to improve. The balance on offense between attack and midfield was off and the defense struggled, both at close defense and defensive middie.
And when that happens, inevitably it hurts the locker room chemistry some too. Nothing so bad as bad blood between players or anything like that. Just the issue of not being able to put it all together for 60 minutes, with the second Denver game really standing out as the Launch failed to finish a game they led by four goals in the second half as they had totally outplayed and outhustled Denver to that point.
Florida then took the major step of making a huge trade deadline transaction with Chesapeake. They traded Kevin Crowley, last year’s MVP of MLL, for the aforementioned Brooks, Earl and Hayes.
In one fell swoop the offensive balance come into place. The team went from a number of players who like to carry and create their own offense (scoring was not a problem but as games went on the offense would have extended droughts) to one that was able to start to implement a lot more off-ball movement. It also helped to establish what Coach Ross is looking for in that players were starting to buy in to the off-ball movement. It also helped already in the goals against category as all three can play both ways.
And it also added another element in that Kieran McArdle, who is likely to compete for MLL Rookie of the Year with Jordan Wolf of Rochester, moved up the list as far as getting more looks. Both Kevin Crowley and Casey Powell are main playmakers and McArdle had to play a little more off his natural game. McArdle is now on a tear and looking very comfortable with his role. Kevin Cunnigham had his best game as a pro and I don’t think it is a fluke as he also now has more room to play off ball. When playing, Mario Ventiquattro has also taken advantage of the new approach to play the role of cutter towards the goal, occupying the defense even if it doesn’t show on the scoreboard.
Another factor in Saturday’s game was the return of Josh Amidon, who provides a defensive midfield toughness and has the size to take on a player like Paul Rabil. Although Rabil was officially credited with 3G/5A it was kind of a quiet 8 point call, if that makes sense (a number of those points came when Florida had already taken a big lead). And when he stays out on the field he gives the opposing defense something to think about given he has the long-range to keep the defense honest at the 2-point line. Jordan Hall also stepped up his game offensively as the midfield really stepped up big – 10G/5A among Earl, Brooks, Hall, etc.
But then we have to come to what was one of, if not the biggest reason, Saturday’s game turned around. Chris Mattes went 27-44 at the faceoff circle after starting out slowly. It was his performance that allowed the offense to get into a rhythm as the Launch were able to put together goal scoring streaks twice, providing the margin of victory.
Throw in Brett Queener’s game in goal (with an assist in the fourth from Adam Fullerton); Brett didn’t really make the spectacular save on Saturday but he made the KEY saves. He helped keep the Launch in the game early with 4 saves in the 7th but then he really came up big in the 3rd with 7 saves. Again, it wasn’t that so many were highlight reels in there, it was an excellent game of reading the shot and positioning. And those 7 saves really took the steam out of Boston’s comeback efforts in the third. Although the Launch did give up 17 goals total Boston was not able to go on any appreciable runs of their own in the last three quarters and the timing of the saves combined with Mattes’ heroics kept Florida comfortably ahead in the second half.
And gives Florida hope going into Boston for the re-match. They control their own destiny. Two road wins and they are in. And if it happens, on a three-game winning streak.
Making them a dangerous team in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, back near the bench, you could feel it. The team chemistry was very high, as pretty much everyone was contributing and the players were more encouraging to each other than they were earlier in the summer.
And you could feel it in the stands too.
Ready to go all in.
Now it’s up to the team to market it hard over the summer.
Because finally, there might well be a ‘there there’ to pursue. Thanks to Saturday night.
Launch fans should tune in tomorrow afternoon for the most important game of the year”
http://www.floridalaunchlacrosse.com/news/10390/game-13-at-boston-cannons-preview/
The Basics
Florida Launch (5-7) vs. Boston Cannons (5-7)
Saturday, August 2nd at 3:00 PM
Harvard Stadium – Boston, MA.
Broadcast
Fans can catch this game live on ESPN3.com or Fox Sports Florida at 3:00 p.m.
