NATIONALS LOOKING FOR SERIES SPLIT AGAINST OHIO

Scouting the Nationals: The Hamilton Nationals dropped a tough 13-12 decision to Ohio last night at Ron Joyce Stadium at McMaster University. It was the second one-goal loss in past four games for the Nats. The Nationals and Machine are now tied for seventh place with identical 2-7 records. Garrett Billings led Hamilton with three goals and one assist, while Cody Jamieson (2+1), Kevin Crowley (2+1), Stephen Keogh (2+1) and David Earl (1+2) all finished with three points. Rhys Duch tied his career high with two assists. Matt Dolente was dominant at the “X”, winning 20 faceoffs and collecting seven ground balls. Jamieson now has a five-game goal-scoring streak, and has notched eight points (6+2) in his last two games. Crowley leads the team with an eight-game goal-scoring streak.

 

Harder activated: Hamilton moved midfielder Tim Harder to the active roster Friday. Last season, he played in one game with the Nationals. July 30, 2011 and recorded two ground balls. Harder played his college lacrosse at Syracuse University (2008-11), where he won back-to-back national championships (2008-09).
 

Johnson at the Worlds: Nationals Assistant Coach Jason Johnson is at the 2012 U-19 World Lacrosse Championships in Turku, Finland. Johnson is working as an assistant coach with the Iroquois Nationals. The Iroquois team opens play on Friday, July 13th against England. The tournament runs from July 12th to the 21st and features 13 competing nations.

 

Super Sophomore: Stephen Keogh leads the Nationals with 16 goals and is third with 23 points, despite playing only six games this season with the Nationals. He has career highs in goals, assists and points.

Nationals Make Deadline Deal: Hamilton acquired a third-round pick in 2013 Collegiate MLL Draft, along with midfielder Cameron Lao-Gosney and attackman Bryan Neufeld from the Charlotte Hounds in exchange for faceoff specialist Geoff Snider.

 

Machine Notes: Ohio won the first road game in its franchise history last night behind an 18-save performance from Brian Phipps. Chazz Woodson led the offense with four assists. Eric O’Brien, Steele Stanwick and Jim Connolly all chipped in two-goal efforts. Connolly leads the Machine with 20 goals and Woodson took over the team points lead with 26. Defenseman Kyle Hartzell is second in the MLL with seven two-point goals.

 

Next Game: Hamilton will travel to Long Island to play the Lizards at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 21st. The game will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network. After next weekend, Hamilton will play its final three regular season games at home.