Game detail
Even the games’ original poster boys have a hard time disguising their body language after a tough day at the office. Seeing Baltimore’s Mark Millon motion with such frustration after teammate Gary Gait made a last ditch 1v1 effort to goal speaks volumes and pretty much sums up Friday night’s MLL semifinal performance.

Boston exorcised any shadow of post-season demons temporarily silencing any Curse of the Bambino naysayers. It’s amazing what a difference two weeks can make. Baltimore routed Boston 25-14 in their last meeting on 05 August at Nickerson Field.

The No. 1 seed Boston that showed up for the semifinal match up did what they had to do; they played like a team. Boston generated a lot of pace on offense with 10 different Cannons finding the back of the net without one goal from the leading points man Conor Gill. The return of Evans on attack, Inge in the face-off (although he was 19-39), and Garrity in goal were timely and necessary additions to the post-season lineup.

Unfortunately for Baltimore, not only did Boston log in one of their best games o f the season, the Bayhawks played one of their worst.

Boston outshot and outscored the Bayhawks in the first quarter 17-4 and 6-2 respectively. Head Coach Gary Gait scored the first goal of the game with a lefty shot that hit lower left corner in the first minute of the game (1-0). Boston responded with four massive unanswered goals starting with Mike Battista’s uncharacteristic two-point goal at 13:29 (2-1).

Boston jumped ahead to 5-1 with goals from David Evans and two from Watson. Watson’s first goal got the crowd on its feet with a behind the back shot that hit lower right corner. Josh Sims responded for Baltimore as he moved Garrity and shot opposite side at 5:18 (2-5). Chris Rotelli wrapped up the first period scoring at 1:13 for a 6-2 lead entering the second quarter.

Boston ran away with the lead and won the game in the second quarter scoring on 11 of their 13 shots to Baltimore’s three goals. The Cannons opened with two goals from Peter Inge and Kevin Leveille off an assist from Watson at 12:56 (8-2). The Bayhawks responded with two goals from Marechek and Sonke. Marechek hit lower left corner on a dive at 11:13 (3-8).

The Cannons surged with eight unanswered goals from Silcott, Leveille (2), Battista, Fiore, Watson, and Rotelli (2). The Bayhawks were unable to recover and the Cannons entered the half with an insurmountable 17-5 lead.

Boston went easy on the trigger finger in the second half producing seven goals to Baltimore’s eleven. Jeff Sonke opened the third quarter with a top left shot at 14:15 (6-17). Teammate chipped away at the deficit with a two-point contribution working the 4-man screen in front at 13:46 (8-17). Mike Regan responded with a lower left shot from up top at 12:07. Jeff Sonke hit a massive top left 2-pointer at 9:36 for 10-18. The Cannons wrapped up the third quarter scoring with goals from Regan, Fiore, and Battista (2-ptr).

The Bayhawks outscored the Cannons 5-2 in the fourth, but by that time, the damage had already been done. Baltimore opened with two goal from Marohl and Sims both assisted from Millon. The Cannons responded with two goals from Rotelli and Leveille giving Boston a 24-13 lead. The Boston fans who stuck out the rain delay in the narrow stadium tunnel were getting more anxious in the final minutes. With the under one minute, the Bayhawks managed to score three points from Jude Collins (1, 2-ptr) to the sound of the crowd cheering on their hometown team.

Boston advances to the final on Sunday at 13:00 and will need to continue the offensive storm and be able to contain the Barrage offensive defensively especially in goal (assuming all injured returnees are back up to full speed).