Merrick Takes Lead By Two On MLL Top Goal Scorers List

UAlbany alum Merrick Thomson powered the Pride’s second-half run to complete the comeback, adding three second-half goals to his second period assist to register four points, and put himself two goals ahead of John Grant Jr. of Rochester, who will close his season against Chicago this weekend.

It took 12 weeks, but the Pride finally reached .500 in 2008 with a thrilling come-from-behind, overtime victory over Philadelphia, 17-16.

The Pride overcame an early 6-0 hole to battle back to a 16-16 tie at the end of regulation, and Matt Rewkowski found the back of the net to earn the Pride their third consecutive win to close the season.

The Pride nearly won it early in overtime as they took the opening possession down and Matt Danowski fired a shot past Kevin Keenan. The ball struck iron though, and rebounded out to midfield, ending the scoring threat.

After several fruitless possessions for each team, Stephen Peyser took the ball near the top of the two-point arc and, following a double team, fed Rewkowski.

“I just did my job,” Peyser said. “I did a dodge down the side, got the double and passed it to Rewk.”

With the game in his stick, Rewkowski faked the shot, stepped inside and fired one past Keenan for the win.

The game not only breeds optimism for next season as the conclusion of the three-game tear, but also was as far from what many expect from the Pride franchise as a team can get. In addition to winning in overtime, the bane of the Pride’s existence in recent years, the Pride overcame a huge deficit by continuing to fight, rather than wilting in the face of a terrible start.

“We started off just dead flat,” Pride coach Peter Jacobs said. “From the middle of the first to the end we played better.

“It’s one of those things where you need a little spark.”

The Pride found that spark early in their rookies, who combined for the Pride’s first seven points in their last game as, perhaps, the most talented rookie corps in league history.

Peyser had three goals in the run, and Danowski added two goals with one behind the arc. Another rookie, defenseman Joe Cinosky added the final strike to pull the Pride within 10-7.

In total, Peyser had four goals for the Pride to earn Bud Light MVP Honors.

The Pride halved the six-point hole by halftime at 11-8, despite a large disparity in penalty time. The Barrage were awarded seven minutes of man-up time to the Pride’s 2.5, and the lack of calls on Philadelphia, most notably Brian Spallina putting his stick on two Pride players after the whistle had blown play dead.

“A couple of their guys were cheaping us,” Jacobs said, “and our guys are retaliating, which stinks because that’s how you get caught.

“It’s a travesty.”

While the Pride entered looking to take advantage of the Barrage’s hot-heads and physical play to earn the man-up, Jacobs was less than thrilled with the way the game was called,

“Obviously [playing physical didn’t work],” Jacobs said, “because they were calling the penalties on us.”

The victory was a part of a larger season-ending run by the Pride. In addition to the 3-0 finish, the Pride closed the year going 6-3 after incorporating their full rookie crop into the line-up.

“[The win] means the world to us,” Peyser said. “We knew we had a great team, it was just a matter of finding the right pieces to the puzzle.

“It’s a lot of positive things. We’ve got a great face-off kid [Danny Brennan}, a great defense and a some stars on offense.”

One of those stars, a relative veteran on the rookie-heavy team, is second-year Merrick Thomson, who put himself temporarily in first in the MLL in goal-scoring.

While the late charge was not enough to pull the Pride into the postseason, there is much cause for optimism heading into the 2009 season. With victories over both of the Eastern Conference’s playoff teams during their run, the Pride have shown they already have the talent to compete with anyone. Next season, they will hope that another year of experience will take them from competitive to dominant.

By Bobby Ingram

Merrick Thomson Nets A Hat Trick, Staying In first place on the MLL Top Scorer’s list

PISCATAWAY - Last Saturday, it was the offense which carried the Pride to victory against Washington.

Thursday night, in the back end of a home-and-home with the Bayhawks, it was all about the defense, though not for lack of trying on the offensive end.

While the Pride put up 16 goals, despite pulling on the reigns with eight minutes remaining, the Rob Scherr and Ryan McClay-led defense stole the show, holding the Bayhawks to eight goals, with help from Danny Brennan’s performance at the face-off X.

After missing time with a broken hand, suffered in the back-end of consecutive MLL Goalie of the Week efforts, and struggling in his first games back in uniform, Scherr was nothing short of dominant in goal, stopping 24 of 30 shots in 53:16 of gameplay to earn Bud Light MVP Honors.

“There are a lot of things you have to worry about,” Jacobs said, “but Robby I don’t have to worry as much.

“He’s been great all year.”

“The last two games I didn’t feel like I was playing my best,” Scherr said, “so it was nice to come out and play like that. It’s a good feeling.”

While he is likely to earn his third Goalie of the Week Award, the MVP Honors were a first for Scherr.

“Obviously getting the win is the first priority,” Scherr said, “but it’s a nice honor. It’s a good feeling to get recognized.”

The Pride’s defensive effort was powered by the oft-underappreciated McClay. As always, in addition to leading the team, McClay was a groundball machine, scooping up 13 loose balls.

“He’s the kind of guy where if you challenge Ryan to get ground balls, he’s going to do it,” Jacobs said. “Whatever I tell him to do, he’s going to do it.”

“That’s what I focus on,” McClay said. “I was a little upset last-week with my off-the-ball defense, tonight was more about knowing to slide or not slide and not getting caught in no-man’s land, and when you’re doing that right the ground balls tend to come.”

In the victory last week, in which Buggs Combs scored eight goals, Jacobs was critical of the team defensive. His opinion of the team’s slides was far different following the win Thursday.

“Last game we played on our heels,” Jacobs said, “this week weplayed them much farther out. Rather then letting them dictate to us, we dictated to them.”

“Our communication was a lot better,” McClay said. “There were a couple of situations late there that were pretty impressive.”

“I can’t say enough about [the defense],” Scherr said. “Those guys play hard, they play tough, and you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

After helping lead the Pride’s runs in a relatively-even face-off game last week, Brennan showed why he was the NCAA’s top face-off specialist in 2008, dominating for 20 wins on 28 face-offs.

“It’s phenomenal,” Jacobs said. “It makes me look like an idiot for not putting him in there sooner.

“You have to take everything within perspective though. Washington is not a great face-off team.”

On the offensive side of the ball, Scott Urick had another strong game for the Pride, scoring four goals and adding an assist, while Merrick Thomson and Chris Unterstein each had hat tricks.

Derek Cherney opened the scoring in the game’s first minute for the Bayhawks, but the Pride responded with three of their own. Dan Chemotti knotted the score at 2:06, and Tim Treubig put the Pride ahead at 4:30. Taking a page out of last week, the Pride took the resulting draw down for a Scott Urick goal and a 3-1 lead, before Matt Ward ended the run.

The Pride responded with another 3-1 run to end the quarter. Stephen Peyser was first to tally, then Thomson added a spectacular goal in traffic. Billy Glading answered right back for the Bayhawks, but Urick scooped up a loose ball among a storm of flags to put the Pride ahead 6-3 through one quarter.

The Pride added the first four of the second frame to extend their run to five-unanswered points, with Urick leading the way with a goal, to complete his hat trick, and an assist alongside goals by Chemotti, Matt Danowski and Greg Peyser to stretch the lead to 10-3 before Jarett Park ended the tear at 6:49.

Danowski’s defensive efforts helped extend the Pride lead as he intercepted a Bayhwaks clear attempt while Washington was out of position. While substitute netminder Chris Collins got back in time to stop Danowski’s shot, the rebound fell to Unterstein who buried it from the doorstep.

Kyle Dixon ended the first-half scoring with a laser from inside the two-point arc to make the score 11-5 at the break.

Unterstein added his second consecutive Pride tally at 4:42, and Urick his fourth of the game at 13:49. Unterstein completed his hat trick just :30 later. McClay ended the defense-driven quarter with a hard body check on the third’s final shot.

“Unlike a lot of people, I’m always about getting balls off the ground not playing the guy,” McClay said. “It felt pretty good tonight.”

Thomson earned his hat trick, and moved back into first place on the MLL Top Scorer’s list for 2008, by scoring the first two goals of the final quarter to put the Pride ahead 16-5, and in doing so enabled the Pride to issue the pull-back order, as they elected to simply run the shot clock on each possession rather than attempt to stretch their lead.

With the win, the Pride maintain their slim playoff hopes, needing losses by Phildelphia and Los Angeles this week, as well as likely needing a Long Island defeat, the Pride are left with a choice to relax for the weekend or scoreboard watch.

“I’ll do both,” Jacobs said. “I’ll relax while I watch the scoreboards.”

By Bobby Ingram

MLL top goal-scorer Merrick Thomson Scores Five Goals in New Jersey's MLL Victory

Courtesy: Inside Lacrosse

Nine games into the season, make-it, take-it runs were something the Pride were used to seeing stretch close games out of reach in favor of their opponents, and never the other way around. Saturday night against Washington, they saw what they were missing as they used several face-off-powered bursts to blow open a tight game late in the second quarter, breezing to a 25-20 victory.

Rookie face-off specialist Danny Brennan saw action for the Pride for just the second time all-season and his impact was apparent. While his numbers won’t place him in the running for Defensive Player of the Week, it was a drastic increase from the sub-forty face-off percentage the Pride entered with which placed them on course for the all-time worst percentage in MLL history. The offensive bursts were a welcome change.

“It’s nice,” Jacobs said of the streaks. “Our offense has always been pretty good at getting goals when they get the ball, it’s just a matter of getting the ball and getting good possessions.

“Danny did a good job today.”

The Peyser brothers led the way for the Pride offensively. Older brother Greg had a solid game for the Pride, while Stephen scored four goals and handed out an assist to earn Bud Light MVP Honors.

“It’s really fun to hug your brother on a day where you both do well and see a smile on his face just like the one I’m probably showing him,” Stephen Peyser said.

With siblings, of course, there also comes that extra juice to match what the other is providing on the field.

“Yeah, I’m sure he has the same sentiment,” Stephen Peyser said. “We’re brothers, so we like to compete with each other - we’ve been doing it since we were little - so it’s just fun to get out there and ball with each other.”

The competition worked out for the best for the Pride, though the results don’t surprise Jacobs.

“They’re tough kids,” Jacobs said. “They play hard defensively and hard offensively. When we traded to get them we did it because we knew they were tough two-way players.”

Scott Urick also provided strong offense for the Pride, showing that he’s still “The Shot” with multiple precision strikes en-route to a three goal night.

“Scotty never went away,” Jacobs said. “It’s just a matter of getting him the ball. When we have the ball and we’re on offense, Scotty is going to get the ball and he’s going to score goals.”

MLL top goal-scorer Merrick Thomson bolstered his numbers with five goals, including some deep strikes, as opposed to his textbook crease runs.

“He’s becoming more and more of a complete attackman,” Jacobs said. “Early in the year he was labeled a ‘Canadian attackman’ who could only play off the ball and be an inside finisher, but now he’s completing his game and it’s making us a more dangerous attack.”

Washington attackman Buggs Combs was spectacular offensively in the losing effort, scoring eight goals, a Bayhawks franchise record.

“I don’t mind if one guy scores a lot of goals if the rest of the team defense is okay,” Jacobs said, ‘but we weren’t doing a good job team-wise of rotating to him, so it wasn’t that one person was guarding him and doing a bad job.

“We may have to re-evaluate our looks, because it’s one of those things where early in the year our defense was doing a great job and later in the year it’s been not so good.”

The Pride penalty kill was strong all game, but no stretch was more important than an early illegal stick violation on Chris Unterstein. With the game tied 2-2, the Pride killed the entirety of the 3:00 non-releasable penalty, ending a chance for the Bayhawks to put some space between them without so much as a scoring threat.

“It was huge for us,” Jacobs said, “that’s one of those situations where you can give up one, two or three depending on how you face-off. But we did a good job of scouting and finding their passing lanes and our guys got in them, then when our offense had the ball we used the full shot clock.”

The teams traded scores early, with neither squad able to take a decisive lead. Tim Treubig got things started for the Pride at 2:36, but Combs answered in the fourth minute to make the score 1-1. After Jordan Levine re-established the Pride lead, but Combs again knotted things up. After the successful illegal stick penalty kill and Cinosky goal, it was Kyle Dixon’s turn to again even things up, making the score 3-3.

Matt Ward gave the Bayhawks their first goal of the game at 12:48 of the first, but the Pride used a newfound advantage at face-off to tie it on a Scott Urick goal just :11 later, and take the lead back :16 after that on Merrick Thomson’s first of the game. A Stephen Peyser goal with just seven seconds remaining gave the Pride a 6-4 lead after one.

Jamison Mullen and Combs quickly tied things up again for the Bayhawks, but the Pride responded with a pair of goals of their own by Urick and Peyser to re-establish a two-goal lead before Combs’ fourth of the day cut the lead to 8-7.

After Cinosky stripped Dixon and earned a slashing penalty, Thomson used the man-up to tally his second of the day. The Pride won the resulting draw, and Urick scooped up the rebound of a Stephen Peyser shot to make the score 10-7.

Washington answered with some make-it, take-it of their own however with a pair of quick goals by Brendan Healey and Combs to narrow the margin to 10-9. Stephen Peyser continued the run of important draws however, scoring another make-it, take-it for the Pride.

While the run ended there, the scoring tear did not, as following a lone non-scoring possession of the ensuing draw by the Pride, the Bayhawks again chipped away at the lead with a Mark Richards goal. The Pride, sparked their half-ending run with, fittingly enough, a Thomson goal followed immediately with a won draw and score by Stephen Peyser. Matt Danowski added his first of the game behind his back, and Greg Peyser fired a laser in the fifteenth minute to put the Pride ahead 15-10 at the break.

Combs again tallied for Washington, but the Pride used their 6-goal run to put the game out of reach at 21-11. The Bayhawks threatened late in the third with a 5 goal run of their own, before another behind-the-back score from Danowski opened the fourth quarter scoring, and gave the Pride a 22-16 lead.

University of Albany Alum Merrick Thomson Remains Goal Scoring Leader of Major League Lacrosse

University of Albany Alum Merrick Thomson Remains Goal Scoring Leader of Major League Lacrosse after posting three more goals last night against Rochester Rattlers. Thomson added two assists in the game, boosting him to
4th among major league lacrosse's points leaders. UAlbany alum and MLL Rookie Jordan Levine saw plenty of action as well.

With the Long Island Lizards of the MLL, UAlbany legend Frank Resetarits has scored 21 goals on the season.

UAlbany Alum Thomson Scores 7 goals as New Jersey upsets Long Island in high-scoring showdown

If there is one thing that is guaranteed about Major League Lacrosse, it is the fact that fans can be sure they will see plenty of scoring. The game between New Jersey and Long Island was no exception as the teams combined for a season-high 46 points in the Pride's 26-20 victory over the Lizards at Mitchel Athletic Complex, snapping Long Island's five-game win streak.

It was the highest-scoring game in the MLL this season and tied for the third-highest scoring game in the league's eight-year history. The 46 points are also the most since Rochester and Denver combined to score a league-record 53 points last year at INVESCO Field at Mile High.

Merrick Thomson led the offensive explosion with a career-high nine points, matching the most by a player in the league this year. He scored a career-high seven goals and had two assists, barely missing the New Jersey single-game points record set by former Pride attackman Jesse Hubbard. Thomson, who was named as the Bud Light MVP, tied a team record with the fourth seven-goal effort in the Pride's eight-year history. Hubbard had recorded the other three seven-goal efforts.

Rookie attackman Matt Danowski also had the best night of his brief professional career. He recorded a season-high nine points, scoring four goals with three assists. Of his four goals, two of them were from two-point range.

While New Jersey was busy setting team records, Long Island midfielder Peter Vlahakis was busy chasing the MLL record book. The three-time MLL Defensive Player of the Week honoree set a league record by winning 35 of 48 face-offs while adding 17 ground balls with a goal.

Keith Cromwell and Chris Fiore took advantage of Vlahakis' success at the face-off "x" by each scoring four goals with three assists. Meanwhile, Spencer Ford scored twice and also had three assists, upping his MLL-leading total to 23 on the season.

The Pride, who have won two of their last three games, snapped a two-game losing streak against the Lizards. Long Island still leads the series by a 12-7 margin.

UAlbany Alum Met in Major League Lacrosse MLL Action Saturday

With 3 goals and 1 assist, University of Albany Alum Merrick Thomson of the New Jersey Pride is tied for 3rd on the goals scored league leaders list.

With heavy rain pounding Yurcak Field on Saturday afternoon, the New Jersey Pride entered their game against the Long Island Lizards hoping that the soggy surface would prove to be a neutralizer. However, the Lizards came out firing on all cylinders and jumped out to a 10-1 lead en route to a 16-9 victory over the Pride on Saturday night.

Stephen Berger was named as the Bud Light MVP for the second straight game after leading the Lizards with four goals and an assist.

Led by three Berger markers, the Lizards jumped out to a commanding 10-1 advantage in the first half. They held New Jersey scoreless for the final 16:33 of the first half and scored six straight goals following a 4-0 start.

After Chris Unterstein opened the scoring for New Jersey in the third quarter, Berger and Tim Goettelmann scored back-to-back goals less than a minute apart. But, the Pride held tough and ignited a six-goal run, including a pair of goals from Scott Urick and Conor Ford, to close within 12-8 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.

The teams traded goals after the Pride’s run before Long Island ended the game with three straight goals to secure their fifth straight win.

While Berger led the Lizards with five points, University of Albany Alum Frank Resetarits added a four-goal effort. Midfielder Peter Vlahakis won 20 of 29 face-offs and had eight ground balls.

Unterstein added two goals with two assists for the Pride.

The Lizards outshot New Jersey by a 40-37 margin.

Courtesy: Inside Lacrosse