Under the thick overcast of your average muggy evening, the Pride and the Lizards each looked for the opportunity to capitalize on a clutch rebound win. The Jersey came off a tough loss against Bayhawks. To sum up the game, it was a rainy day for the Pride despite Jesse Hubbard's six goals. This match-up was enormous for the Lizards who will face the Cannons for a rubber match next week. With all the offensive firepower on the field, the team with the ability to spread out the scoring would come up on top. The Lizards had ten different players find the net and came out the victors over the Pride 18-12.

The game opening face-off had two ex-Blue Jays squaring off, Eric Wedin for the Lizards and Peter Jacobs for Jersey. An excellent duel to say the least, these former face-off specialists attended Johns Hopkins and were raised under the same school of lacrosse. Each face-off required the help of the wingman for the ground ball, because both players kept the other guessing, changing their moves on every draw. At 12:33, Kevin Finneran lit up the scoreboard for the first digit. With a move reminiscent of him on the Wings, Kevin took it straight to cage and hit the nylon on a lefty bouncer cross crease. Jersey sniper Jesse Hubbard responded at 10:51 when Urick found him wide open for crank shot that sailed low to high right past Carcaterra.

As the ball moved from end to end, the intensity of the transition increased, the offense was riding harder and the defense was clearing quicker. Goals off a settled offense require more than 45 seconds to score, so the Pride and the Lizards went straight for the cage every possession. Powell gave Long Island a 2-1 lead, when he found Stephen Sombrotto for a shot at the lower left corner past Koudelka. Jersey quickly scored twice to gain their first lead of the match up. Scott Urick scored the 1st goal of his hat trick the old fashioned way, a bouncer on the run straight to the cooker. One minute later Urick found Hubbard coming lefty off a V cut to the cage, Jesse whipped the rock low to high in the upper left 90. Casey, not to be out staged by his buddy Jesse, took Koudelka with an overhand shot from the left side of the cage and tacked the stickside upper 90 tying the game back at 3. As the clock began to wind down, both teams scrambled for the GBs to gain the lead before the 2nd quarter. With three minutes to go, the Pride came up with the rock off another Steve Koudelka save. Once the ball got past midfield, they swung the rubber to Jesse who found Drew Melchionni at the 2:40 mark for a quickstick past Carcaterra. Right after the "ridiculously long stick" was used during a TV timeout Powell found ex-Hoya Greg McCavera open for the 4-4 equalizer to end the 1st.

Coach Detomasso must have given the Lizards some encouraging words, or they could have been pounding that SoBe Adrenaline Rush on the sideline. Long Island played fired up and went straight at Koudelka scoring the first 3 goals of the 2nd quarter. Ken Garcia was first to find net, or shall I say iron. Kevin Finneran found Garcia, with enough time for Ken to tee up his shot and cling the iron in front of the 2984 present at the game. Riordan took his turn at "HORSE" trying to match the last corner shot and snagged the upper left 90 on an assist from Vinnie Sombrotto. Haugen rounded off the three-goal spurt with a bouncer grazing Koudelka's off hip for a 7-4 lead. Not to disappoint the home crowd in Bridgewater, the Pride chalked up the next two goals. Defenseman Christian Cook on a clear,took the ball to the offensive arc and found Scott Urick open a couple of steps inside the two-point line. Urick found enough time to eye up his shot and burn one by the elastic on Carcaterra's shorts. Jesse Hubbard, scored the next goal, receiving a golf clap from the staff here at lax.com. It was by far the shot of the game, getting 9 outta 10 on style points.

"I noticed I had a shorty on me and he over committed, so I drove to the hole righty and came back out to my left for more angle, I had to shoot it behind my back for a better shot," said Jesse in a post-game interview. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you this guy eats his humble pie, he forgot to mention that he had his d-man completely confused and that behind the back shot was on a B-line to the top left corner, bringing the Pride within one. The crowd at Commerce was soon silenced by two consecutive shots of the crossbar from Nick Hartofilis. The Lizards finally found the 6 by 6, when Kevin Finneran found Tim Goettelmann for a cross crease jump shot 15 ft from the cage. New Jersey and the Lizards traded goals for the remainder of the half. Jon Hess found Urick open for a fade away shot just under the arc. A.J Haugen responded for the Lizards, beating his man from X on an invert, and taking Koudelka low on the left pipe baiting high with his eyes. Jay Jalbert capped off the 1st half by finding Hubbard open outside for his fourth goal of the game, leaving the score at 9-8 Long Island going into half-time.

The beginning of the second half was like déjà vu, the Lizards put away the first three of the half, getting two from Powell and one from Finneran. Casey hit one off a roll-dodge while falling to the turf and Kevin dialed Koudelka's number finding back of the neck through the keeps' five-hole giving Long Island a 12-8 lead. The only plus to the MLL is the two pointer, especially when you're down by two. Hubbard hit one from down town to tally up his 6th G of the game and trim the fat back to a two-goal deficit. Ex-Cavalier David Curry donated to the Jersey cause and rang the off stick pipe bringing it to a one goal game. Long Island killed the quarter at the 1:44 mark getting another upper 90 from Terry Riordan for a 13-11 lead.

The 4th quarter was all about the Lizards, showing the Pride fans why they won the title last season. The Long Island defense spearheaded by John Gagliardi and Pat McCabe, allowed the Pride only one goal (Hubbard his 7th of the game). The Lizards on the other hand weren't having much trouble on the opposite side of the 50. Lighting the board up five times. Powell found McCavera open for his second goal of the game with a solid over hand shot. Tim Goettelman was the man on deck at X, finding Powell cutting to cage for a lefty quickstick in the lower corner. Finneran followed up Powell at 5:05 with a roller that ran up Koudelka's left leg. Ex-Cannon Greg Traynor had his 1st goal of the game with 2:38 remaining giving the Lizards a definitive lead. Kevin Finneran closed up shop with his fourth goal of the game leaving 57 sec on the clock to kill for a final score of 18-12 Lizards.

"We did what we needed to . . ," said AJ Haugen giving Jersey credit for a game well played. Fellow teammate Casey Powell commented, "We worked well together today, we were still trying to get it together against Boston, but we'll get another chance next week."

The score doesn't really speak for the game. "I think they hit like eight pipes today," stated Casey after the game about New Jersey.

After the game Jesse Hubbard spoke about the Pride offense, "We need to get more people involved, that's a hard thing to do with a team like Long Island, but we have the personnel." New Jersey has a week to work out the bugs, before they face Ryan (aka the other, aka #2)Powell and the Rattler's for the next two games.