BOSTON, MA - Saturday, July 26, 2008 – Attackman John Grant, Jr. (Delaware '99) collected eight goals and two assists to earn Bud Light MVP honors, as the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse (MLL) were defeated by the Rochester Rattlers, 26-19, before 2,558 fans at PAETEC Park in Rochester, New York, on Saturday night. Attackman Mikey Powell (Syracuse '04) led the Cannons with four goals and two assists in the contest. With the loss, the Cannons dropped to 6-4 this season and snapped a two-game winning streak. With the victory, the Rattlers improved their record to 7-3.

The Rattlers struck first to take a 1-0 lead in the high-scoring opening quarter, but midfielder Tom Zummo (NYIT '05) retaliated for the Cannons at 1:21 to tie the score early in the game. The Rattlers collected two more goals, including a two-pointer, to obtain a 4-1 lead, until the Cannons cut the advantage in half with a tally by attackman Sean Morris (UMass '06), his first of the game, at 4:13. Powell earned the assist on Morris' goal. From there, the Rattlers went on a three-goal run, including two man-advantage tallies after Powell was assessed with a three-minute personal foul for an illegal crosse, to take a 7-2 lead over the Cannons.

Powell got even upon his exit from the penalty box by scoring his first goal of the game, assisted by Morris, at 10:15, and attackman Matt Alrich (Delaware '04) added a marker at 13:18 to cut the Rattlers lead to 7-4. Midfielder Matt Poskay (Virginia '06) collected the assist on the goal by Alrich. The Rattlers scored again to push their lead to 8-4, but midfielder Paul Rabil (Johns Hopkins '08) took advantage of a broken end-to-end run attempt by Rattlers goalie Mike Levin (Brown '04) by netting a two-point goal at 14:48 to cut the home team's lead to 8-6 at the end of the quarter.

The Rattlers kept their momentum going into the second quarter, and collected a quick tally to push their lead to 9-6. Morris found the back of the Rattler's net for his second goal of the game at 2:28, assisted by Alrich, but from there the Rattlers took control, scoring five unanswered goals to gain a 14-7 advantage. The Cannons started to pull back within striking range toward the end of the quarter, with Powell's second goal of the game, assisted by midfielder Ben DeFelice (Towson '04) at 12:35, Morris' third tally of the game, assisted by Rabil, at 14:08 and a two-point goal off a face-off win from defenseman Ray Megill (Maryland '07) at 14:24 to cut the Rattlers' lead to 14-11 at halftime.

The Rattlers replaced Levin with goalie Brett Queener (Albany '08) at the start of the third quarter and again came out strong in the frame, scoring five goals to take a 19-11 lead before Powell beat the rookie netminder for the Cannons' first goal of the quarter and Powell's third of the game at 8:17. The Cannons traded goalies as well early in the second half, with goalie Jake Coon (Nazareth '00) entering the game at 2:10 to relieve starting goalie Kip Turner (Virginia '07). Powell added his fourth tally of the contest, assisted by midfielder Matt Casey (Ithaca '05), to close the gap to 19-13 at 13:18, but the Rattlers collected the final goal of the frame to take a 20-13 advantage into the final 15 minutes of play.

The Cannons went on the attack early in the fourth quarter with four unanswered goals to reduce the Rattlers lead to 20-17. Alrich collected his second tally of the game, with Poskay earning his second helper of the contest, at 1:16, Zummo netted back-to-back goals at 2:00 and 2:48, and Alrich got on the scoreboard again with his third goal of the game at 3:20. Rabil earned his second assist of the contest on Zummo's tally at 2:48 and Powell earned his second helper on Alrich's goal.

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2008-07-27