The Iroquois defeat USA 13-9 in the opening game for both teams! After a truly fantastic opening ceremony, the Iroquois Nationals and United States played the first game of the 2015 WILC Blue Division in front of a sell-out crowd. The excitement was high for this game and the atmosphere was electric. Simply put, there were some lofty expectations placed on this game by everyone. Fortunately for all in attendance, those expectations were not only met, but exceeded.
Editor’s Note: Video highlights will be posted later today on LaxAllStars.com!
Video highlights can be found BELOW! Enjoy the video… we enjoyed the game!
Photo Credit: Jeff Melnik and Larry Palumbo
[fvplayer src=”https://youtube.com/watch?v=vEcHwsx1okk” splash=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vEcHwsx1okk/hqdefault.jpg” caption=”IROQUOIS NATIONALS v TEAM USA Day 1 of WILC 2015 HIGHLIGHTS”]
Iroquois Defeat USA – 1st Quarter
While both teams were taking chances and making plays, it wasn’t until a USA penalty on Joe Smith that the scoreboard really started to light up. Smith was called for slashing just over a minute into the game, and the Iroquois man-up unit was able to see what they could put together against USA’s experienced defensive core. Joel White, Brian Megill, Chris O’Dougherty, and Brett Manney comprised the penalty kill team for the Americans, which, with the exception of O’Dougherty, was the man down unit for the NLL’s New England Black Wolves to start last season.
Even in the face of that talent, it was none other than the Iroquois’ Johnny Powless who got the scoring started, converting with just under five seconds left on the power play off a Randy Staats feed. It would be Powless again two and a half minutes later, this time from Jeff Shattler, to double the early lead. Their righties were young, but nobody could really say the lacked lacrosse experience, just NLL experience. Staats shared that side of the offense with Lyle and Miles Thompson, and that group alone, with their combined one season of NLL play, would finish with 13 points (L. Thompson (3,2), M. Thompson (2,2), Staats (1,3)).
The Iroquois lefties were anchored by leading scorer Shattler (3,4) and Powless (2,3). The eleven goals produced by those five comprised all but two that would be scored for the Nationals. There were some questions going into this game how that group would respond to losing Cody Jamieson to injury, and while Jammer would have improved this unit dramatically (he would do that for any offense!), it was hard to argue that they were anything but deadly on offense, especially given that this was only Game 1 of the WILC’s Blue Division.
Aside from those two goals in the first, Miles Thompson scored after isolating against White. Thompson took advantage of White making the rare mistake of losing his feet right on top the crease and not being able to recover quickly enough. The final Iroquois goal of the quarter was Miles again off a cross field pass from Shattler, both were positioned in the middle of their respective sides, and showcased the Iroquois’ ability to get the ball moving from side to side effectively.
The lone US goal of the quarter was from Joe Resetarits off a Garrett Thul feed. This goal was a precursor to how the US would run their offense nearly the entire night. Kevin Buchanan was the player running the American forwards, with the ball starting in his stick nearly every time. The interesting thing is he rarely would go from the top center, but rather they would overload the lefty side and either work off picks, or try to get a swing pass to a righty working through an off ball pick. The sweet spot for the Americans was the top righty spot, where Marcus Holman or Resetarits were always trying to work their way to the middle. This goal would follow that plan perfectly.
Iroquois Defeat USA – 2nd Quarter
The second quarter saw another quick penalty, but this time it was a too many men call against the Iroquois. The US man up unit would be Jeff Ratcliffe, Blaze Riorden, Joe Walters, Buchanan and Resetarits. Again, the man up unit was loaded with 3 lefties. Riorden and Ratcliffe were primarily the “dirty work” guys, being responsible for tying up the defense and setting picks to open up the shooters. Ratcliffe did this exceptionally well all night, becoming the primary focus of the defense all night and allowing the shooters on his side to be open regularly. I lost count of the number of times a defender would still be trying to deal with Ratcliffe even after the ball was headed the other way down the floor. The next goal was another Resetarits shot, from the same spot as before, off a feed from Walters across the field.
The Iroquois would answer back with a transition goal as Adam Bomberry scored off a pass from Tyler Garrison. It was created from a missed USA shot that would take a high arc off the rear boards and go all the way to midfield. The Iroquois scooped it up quickly and went the other way. In what would turn out to be a huge opportunity squandered, the US would actually be two men up for two minutes after a Brier Jonathan cross check and a bench delay of game. After the penalty was killed, Joe Smith would be called for holding, putting the Iroquois up a man again. This created a quick tic-tac-toe goal with Miles Thompson finishing off a Powless feed. It was a big swing in the Iroquois’ favor.
There would be another Iroquois penalty shortly thereafter, setting up a goal by Joe Walters just 14 seconds into the Power Play, assisted by Ratcliffe. Walters would actually score as a lefty from the same righty shooter spot the Resetarits’ two marks came from. A minute and a half later, the US scored after Marcus Homan found a cutting Blaze Riorden who scored from the middle of the crease. It was not something they tried often. Not only was Blaze rarely a first look on offense, but the US did not cut through the inside much. It was good to see them mix things up a little bit though and they will need to do more of this against Canada, and in any playoff games.
The Iroquois would end the half with another Shattler goal followed by a devastating buzzer beater by Lyle Thompson. The Thompson goal followed an intense moment on the field as Sid Smith corralled a loose ball and called timeout immediately at mid field. Right as the whistle blew, a US defender was in the process of body checking Smith. This caused Brett Bucktooth and others to rush in to Smith’s aid, and plenty of pushing and shoving followed. Smith and Ratcliffe wound up sitting in the boxes to end the half as Thompson scored. 8-4 Iroquois after two.
Iroquois Defeat USA – 3rd Quarter
The US shook off the late goal in the second to dominate the third and it also marked the start of the “weird” stuff happening. The third saw a rarely used offensive zone faceoff restart after Brett Manney and Lyle Thompson were fighting for a loose ball so hard that they caused a gap in the turf to come apart. Jeremy Thompson came on the field to quickly win the possession and then came off again to get the forwards back on for the Iroquois. The first goal of the quarter would actually go to Jeff Ratcliffe. What happened is he was fighting Sid Smith for a loose ball at the top of the Iroquois crease. As Smith picked it up and was bringing up his stick, a hard stick on stick check from Ratcliffe sent the ball flying between the legs of the keeper. Dirty work goal accomplished.
Joe Walters would follow this goal with another one of his own three minutes later, just running from the lefty side to center and releasing a monster outside shot. The quarter would end with a fantastic US transition goal. An off-ball call on the Iroquois forwards changed the possession. Joel White didn’t miss a beat and took off up the field. He found Resetarits running up with him and Resetarits buried it with 15.6 seconds left to bring the US within one. 8-7 to end the third. Um, we have a game!
Iroquois Defeat USA – 4th Quarter
From here, we saw the Iroquois skill just take over. Less than a minute into the quarter, Lyle Thompson turned on the afterburners and weaved through the defense to finish inside. Jeff Shattler would then use a pick perfectly on Brian Megill to go up 10-7. Staats then scored off a Shattler feed, and the score was 11-7. Brandon Goodwin followed with a transition goal where Chris O’Dougherty was left trying to cover a two on one break. He cheated more to the cutting Randy Staats than to the defender Goodwin who was carrying up the floor. Goodwin gave a look off and then buried it to go up 12-7. Lyle would once against score unassisted with under three minutes left to go up 13-7.
Only 30 seconds after the Thompson goal, Joel White would score his own on a fast break, cutting the lead back a little bit. 12 seconds later, Joe Walters finished off a pass from Holman. From this point on, the Iroquois just tried to kill the clock. The US was called for too many men on the field with just over a minute left and created an opportunity for a Lyle Thompson penalty shot. Goalie David Mather made a highlight reel save as he reacted to Lyle’s several quick fakes and brought the head of his stick from the ground up to the top right corner to catch the ball in time. While it did not make a huge difference in the outcome, it had to give the US a big confidence boost, and even Lyle looked a little surprised at the swift reaction of Mather.
Iroquois Defeat USA – Final Notes
Team USA – US fans should be encouraged by this performance, as it showed that this team can compete with the best. Getting Casey Powell back will be huge and will take some of the heat off from Kevin Bucahanan, giving the US a better right-left set of options option. Head Coach Tony Resch said as much after the game as well: “Having one more initiator, anytime you can share the load to a certain degree, it’s going to help every guy have that much more effectiveness.” Powell will help the team really get more cross field passing going rather than so much of the activity being centered around the lefties feeding the right.
On defense, Joel White, Greg Downing and Brett Manney especially were making plays all night. That should not take anything away from the others on the floor. This is a very good defensive group that will only improve as the tournament goes on. They played physical defense all night and leveraged the experience of players like Chris O’Dougherty to their advantage. What the US did very well at that end of the floor was reduce the number of second chance opportunities by being relentless on ground balls. This will continue to be key going forward. While the fourth quarter did not go well, the team will learn from this and made some adjustments as needed.
Iroquois Nationals – Offensively, the Iroquois were able to do what most were expecting. Most of their scoring and offense was based off isolation and trying to feed during the defensive slide than focusing on heavy ball movement. Jeff Shattler commented after the game that when they did start moving the ball more and using their passing, they saw a lot more success. It will be interesting to see which style they employ when they face Canada.
On the defensive end, Angus Goodleaf came up huge tonight and will need to keep that up if the Iroquois want to be wearing gold medals around their necks just over a week from now. Transition was not a major emphasis for the Iroquois and I would not expect that to change much. The key for the defense is going to be getting loose balls and safely clearing for the offense to take over.
This game was a fantastic way to officially start the tournament. If you can make it to any games in person definitely make every attempt to do so! Otherwise, glue yourself to https://wilc2015.com/watch for the entire week as there is going to be some very good lacrosse being played up in and around Syracuse and Onondaga!
