Saturday, August 8th was a great day for lacrosse.  Set in Fifth Third Bank Stadium at Kennesaw State University, on the heels of Major League Lacrosse’s announcement of an Atlanta expansion team, the MLL Championship game between the New York Lizards and Rochester Rattlers provided a spectacular display of lacrosse in front of over eight-thousand fans.

Both teams entered the game having all ready won plenty of hardware.  The Lizards were lead by MLL regular season MVP Greg Gurenlian (better known as the Beast for his face-off dominance), defensive player of the year Joe Fletcher, and goalie of the year Drew Adams, while the Rattlers had MLL offensive player of the year Jordan Wolf.  Plus, three more players earned All-MLL honors; Rattler Joel White and Lizards Paul Rabil and Rob Pannell. When the whistle blew to start the game, the individual accolades were set aside and all that mattered to these players was earning the right to raise the Steinfeld Cup above their heads.

I think everyone in the stadium expected The Beast to win the opening face-off, but Mike Poppleton won it for the Rattlers.  Forty seconds later, we had our first goal of the game as Kyle Denhoff scored to make it 1-0 in favor of Rochester very early in the game.   For the next five minutes, there was some exciting back and forth action, but the Lizards could not find their groove on offense (something that would continue for the entire first quarter).  The Rattlers tacked on another one when Jordan Wolf sneaked one past Drew Adams with 9:39 left in quarter 1.  A minute and a half later, Ned Crotty scored a powerplay goal from a Paul Rabil assist for the Lizards’ first goal.  The teams traded goals after that to make it 3-2 Rochester with five minutes remaining in the opening frame.  To finish off the quarter, the Rattlers scored three straight, two of them were on the powerplay, to take a 6-2 advantage into the break.

The Lizards played the second quarter like their lives depended on it.   Matt Gibson scored less than a minute into the period, and then, following a rattler goal by Dave Lawson, the Lizards scored four straight to tie the game.  That run included two Rob Pannell goals and Jo-Jo Morasco getting a goal and an assist.  The Rattlers stopped the bleeding with a Jack Near goal with 1:10 left in the second quarter, allowing them to take an 8-7 lead into the locker room at halftime. The third quarter was the closest one yet.  Rob Pannell scored again to tie the game but Mark Matthews answered right back by scoring two in a row.  Then, league MVP Greg Gurenlian won the ensuing faceoff and took it right to the goal to bring his team back within one. Kyle Denhoff of the Rattlers scored his second goal, but Paul Rabil put another one in for New York less than a minute later.  The quarter ended tied when Matt Gibson scored with just 26 seconds remaining.

We entered the fourth and final quarter of the game tied at 11.  It was anyone’s game at this point.  The Lizards had the momentum and were winning the face-off battle, but the Rochester defense had very clearly shown they could handle the MLL’s best offense and goalie John Galloway was playing great. Jordan Wolf started the quarter by showing why he was the league’s best offensive player.  The Rattler scored to give his team a one goal advantage.  That lead didn’t last long though, Rob Panell scored his fourth goal to tie it less than two minutes later and Mike Stone scored to give the Lizards the lead with 11:08 remaining.  Stone’s goal, which Rabil assisted, turned out to be the game winner as the Lizards would score two more and win by a final of 15-12.  With two-point goals in play though, the game was never a sure thing and it was exciting all the way to the end. The Lizards are champions. Paul Rabil was named MVP of the game for his 3 goal and 3 assist evening.  The most impressive stat-line for me was Gurenlian winning 25 of 30 face-offs, The Beast continued the dominance he maintained all-season in the year’s most important game.  Rob Pannell also added four goals and an assist in an outstanding performance for the Lizards.  For the Rattlers, Mark Matthews had a total of three goals while Jordan Wolf and Kyle Denhoff each had two. A special congratulations to local coach Jo-Jo Morasco (coach at Windermere Prep and midfielder for the Lizards) for winning the MLL Championship and putting up three points in the process!

The most important thing to take away from this event, I think, didn’t happen on the field.  It was in the stands and in the environment.  With an MLL team on its way to Atlanta for 2016, the city showed that it has the fans and lacrosse interest to make Georgia a viable market for Lacrosse.  The “South” will now have three MLL teams (The Launch, Hounds, and now the Blaze) plus an NLL team on the way (the Georgia Swarm). These teams may not be selling out their stadiums right now and I don’t have any belief they will in the next couple of years but one day they will draw as many people as the NBA, MLB and the NHL.   This is true sign of faith in lacrosse’s growth in our own backyards. For the love of the game, I hope this growth continues.