NLL Insider

The Toronto Nationals will put their prefect 2-0 record on the line against the 1-1 Long Island Lizards tonight at BMO field. The Nationals will look to continue their string of strong individual performances highlighted by week 1’s Bud Light Offensive Player of the Week Merrick Thomson, who dropped 7 goals against Baltimore, and last week’s Defensive Player of the Week Brodie Merrill who managed to hold Matt Striebel pointless.

The Lizards should be a worthy adversary for Toronto with their only blemish coming from a heartbreaking loss to Baltimore, the same team Toronto narrowly defeated by a single goal in their inaugural game, in overtime last week.

Matt Danowski, who leads the team with 6 points (2g, 4a) and the Lizards’ offense which also includes Stephen Berger (4g, 1a) and Chris Fiore (3g, 1a), should pose some problems for Toronto’s defense who may add recent defensive draftees, Ontario native Sid Smith (Syracuse) and LSM Mike Timms (Virginia), to tonight’s game.

Whitby, Ontario native Zack Greer will make his MLL debut in front of his home crowd where he will reunite with former Duke teammate Matt Danowski. The Lizards organization must hope the duo will be able to re-ignite the explosive offensive force they used to dominate Division 1 lacrosse for four seasons.

Sid Smith is also confirmed to be playing today. He will be wearing number 59.

It is 6:20, I just arrived at BMO field, and it is a beautiful 20 degree day ( that is roughly 75 degrees F for you Americans out there) with just a little bit of cloud cover and a cool breeze coming off of Lake Ontario. All in all, some great conditions for lacrosse.

The pregame is featuring one of the Edge Select teams against St. Andrew’s College High School, a local lacrosse team, and will be followed by two Whitby minor lacrosse teams who will slug it out for bragging rights.

Healthy Scratches and Injuries for Long Island are: Frank Resetarits, John Gagliardi, Matt Ward, Ryan Heath, Chris Unterstein, and Seth Goldberg.  And for the Nationals: Dan Dawson, Merrick Thomson, Jeff Zywicki, Roger Vyse, Jon Sullivan, and Nick O’Hara.

First Quarter:

15:00 Geoff Snider Loses a faceoff to Peter Vlahakis and was stripped by Brodie Merill who carries the ball up the field

14:06 Save by Brian Dougherty off a shot by Joe Walters and he clears the ball up to Steve Panarelli

13:58 Matt Danowski shoots and hits the pipe but the Lizards hold onto possession. They lose the ball and Brodie Merrill carries up field but loses possession.

11:44 A shot by Steven Berger sails wide but the Lizards maintain possession

10:26 Goal by Tim Goettelmann, unassisted, who fires a close shot 0-1

9:41 Goal by Jordan Hall, unassisted, who rolled into the middle and ripped a shot past Doc to even the game 1-1

8:22 Save by Rob Scherr, but Greer scoped up the rebound and potted a GOAL from his feet to put the Lizards up 2-1

8:19 Timeout Nationals

8:12 Faceoff won by Peter Vlahakis

7:12 Shot by Joe Walters is wide and they turn the ball over. Long Island possession.

5:44 GOAL Lizards turn over the ball and Gavin Prout carries it ball up the field and Delby Powless picked up the rebound off of Doyle’s shot and scored off 2-2.

3:43 Timeout Nationals

3:43 Penalty on Dan Cochi

3:20 Ricky Pages shoots low on Rob Scherr but he makes the save. He makes a long clear to Gary Gait but he is unable to get a good shot off and Doughterty makes the easy save.

2:22 Gary Gait fights off defender Matt Zash and fires a one handed shot low but it sails wide. Lizards recover the ball

1:33 Greer makes an attempt to go one on one with Sid Smith but he is denied.

0:02 Goal by Stepher Hoar to end the quarter. Assisted by Brodie Merrill created a fast break down the centre by recovering a ground ball.

Second Quarter:

15:00 FACEOFF won by Geoff Snider and Brodie Merrill carries the ball up the field. He gives Peter Vlahakis a shove while he is still on the ground

14:23: Snider with a shot but Dougherty makes the save

13:30 Stephen Berger wound up and cranked a high shot but sent it wide. Nationals recover the ball and Jordan Hall takes the it up field.

12:34 Joe Cinosky intercepts a Lizard clear but he gets striped and Long Island gets the ball

11:58 Keith Cromwell fires a shot high but misses wide. Lizards maintain possession and feed the ball to Berger but he fumbles on the crease and can’t get a shot off

11:20 Athan Ianucci shoots but hits the pipe. GOAL Long Island recovers and passes the ball upfield and Cromwell who scores on the crease. 3-3

11:00 Vlahakis wins the faceoff and passes the ball to Greer but he is unable to make anything happen and they lose possession

9:48 GOAL Delby Powless shoots at the top left corner from a feed from Shawn Williams. 4-3

8:29 GOAL Joe Walters runs by two defenders to bury a shot 5-hole on B-Doc to put the Nationals up 5-3

TIMEOUT Lizards

8:29 FACEOFF won by Peter Vhalakis and picked up by Dan Cochi who scores an unassisted GOAL. 5-4 Nationals

6:38 Keith Cromwell goes one on one with Rob Scherr but hits his right foot for a save. The Nationals recover the ball and Stephen Hoar fires a low shot to make it 6-4 Nationals.

4:20 Athan Ianucci and Frank D’Agostino get up close and personal bu the refs break them apart. (This game is really becoming a “fire fight”) (Boondock Saints anyone?)

3:50 The crowd starts chanting “GO Nats GO”

3:20 GOAL from Stephen Berger who is just firing from just inside the two point line.  

3:45 Ianucci gets a penalty for unnecessary roughness

3:45 It has started to rain lightly but the fans and players do not seem to notice it. It has cooled down a little bit.  Another FACEOFF won by Peter Vlahakis.

3:10 GOAL from Stepher Berger again, assisted from Zach Greer. 6-6

2:22 Save by Rob Scherr who robs Stephen Berger right on the doorstep

2:05 GOAL by Zach Greer, unassisted Lizards up 7-6

2:00 FACEOFF won by Geoff Snider who runs towards the Long Island goal but makes a pass into empty space and the Lizards get possession

1:38 Lightning makes an appearance and the game is put on hold.

NOTES: Just a few notes since because of the rain delay. Peter Vlahakis is making Geoff Snider’s job awfully difficult today. Snider just cannot seem to get a good rhythm going and his team needs some wins at the X in order for them to utilize their great transition game. Long Island seems to firing on all cylinders right now with Berger and Greer proving themselves to be a fantastic combination. Despite Greer’s offensive contributions, Sid Smith deserves a lot of credit for keeping Greer out of the game earlier on in the game. He has been on his hands for most of the game.

The announcers just informed us that play will resume in 7 minutes. Fingers Crossed.

Players are back on the field and warming back up literally. The temperature has dropped

1:38 Play resumes in the Nationals end and it is really coming down.

1:04 Matt Danowski shoots right on the crease but Scherr makes a great save to keep it close.

0:17 Joe Walters takes a shot from the outside but it Dougherty gobbles it up.

Third Quarter:

15:00 FACEOFF Geoff Snide and Peter Vlahakis line up at the X and Vlahakis comes away with the win. Goettelman gets a shot on the crease but is stuffed by Queener who has replaced Scherr.

14:34 Penalty on Stephen Berger.

13:02 Shot from Doyle on the crease saved. Nationals keep possession and Walters scores one from almost 2pt range. Nationals tie it up 7-7.

13:00 Snider wins the ensuing faceoff.

12:58 Penalty against Long Island. Interference is the call.

12:29 Gary Gait misses a pass while the Nationals are on the powerplay and they lose possession.

10:42 Shot by Matt Danowski saved by Queener who runs behind the cage and theys the ball to Sid Smith. Queener let’s out a “LETS GO” to the crowd, showing why he won the Personality of the year award.

9:37 Another save by Queener on Danowski who was up close. Queener proceeded to run up the field and drew a penalty on the clear. Ricky Pages slashing is the penalty.

8:21 GOAL by Colin Doyle who lets a low back hand shot right in the middle of the play showing the fans some razzle dazzle. Assisted from Ianucci 8-7 Nationals. J. Lambe is injured on the play

8:00 GOAL by Zach Greer on a breakaway who evens up the score 8-8. FACEOFF won by Vlahakis who beat Merrill who replaced Snider at the X.

6:18 Matt Danowski made a slick swim move over Vinc and got the ball to Berger who shot the ball high. Lizards kept possession and Greer managed to score a slick goal but the whistle blew before it was in the net.

3:45 2pt.GOAL by Chris Fiore who managed to get one past Queener. Long Island goes up 10-8. FACEOFF won by Vlahakis who is just killing faceoffs today.

2:16 GOAL by Athan Ianucci who shot one five hole past Dougherty. 10-9 Long Island. FACEOFF won by Vlahakis again! This man is just putting on a clinic out here.

1:40 Incrediable save by Dougherty off of Gavin Prout right on the crease.

0:43 Joe Walters makes a great dogde at the top of the 2pt line but he hits the pipe.

Fourth Quarter:

The rain has stopped

15:00 FACEOFF won by Geoff Snider who finally gets one by Vlahakis.

13:25 Greer gets a pass from Matt Danowski but cannot get his low back hand shot to hit the net. Game still 10-9 Long Island.

12:00 Pages steals the ball away from Doyle and bolts upfield and gives it to Peyser.

11:12 Danowski danced around the crease throwing fakes and beating defensemen and he even got the ball to Blake Miler who just could not finish. Probably thought it was Greer from his days at Duke.

10:49 GOAL Stephen Peyser scores to extend the Lizards lead to 2 goals. 11-9 Lizards.Faceoff won by Snider.

10:00 Joe Walters threw a great fake and moved into the middle but his shot rang iron.

9:28 Save by Brian Dougherty off Prout. Doc sent the ball upfield but the Lizards had to pull it out and slow down the transition.

8:06 Queener makes some lsick moves up field and gets the ball to Doyle who manages a rocket of shot before hitting the ground hard. But he misses wide.

6:24 Toronto manages some quick and tricky passes that ends up with Gait on the crease but he is checked hard before getting a shot off.

5:05 Blake Miller tells the Lizards to slow the ball down as they are getting impatient with the ball despite holding the lead.

3:22 Athan Ianucci scores a nifty goal up close but he is called for being in the crease.

3:00 The Nationals had a chance to get a quick goal off an interception made by Sid Smith but he gave the ball back to the Lizards and they are looking to kill the clock.

1:40 GOAL by Zach Greer, assisted from Matt Danowski, who got the ball to Greer while he was being covered by both Sid Smith and Brodie Merrill and managed somehow to tuck it in and fire a shot top right hand corner. 12-9 Lizards. Vlahakis won the ensuing faceoff.

0:40 GOAL Lizards. Stephen Berger managed to lose his defender and put one past Queener up high. 13-9 Lizards.

The Long Island Lizards handed the Toronto Nationals their first loss of the season. Credit to the Long Island Lizards’ offense who seemed very confident through the game. Especially with Zach Greer patrolling the right and middle of the play who was also handed Game MVP.

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