Game Preview - Barrage vs. Dragons 7-6-07

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Barrage (4-2) head into both the second half of the 2007 season and the MLL All-Star Game with a key matchup against the San Francisco Dragons (2-4). This will be the Barrage's first meeting of the season with the Western Conference. Faceoff at USTC is at 7:30 PM.

Last Game

The Barrage saw an 11-5 lead disappear in the second half against Long Island but were able to recover in time to pull out a 14-13 overtime win in front of 2,448 at USTC. Matt Striebel scored with 5:39 remaining in regulation to force the extra period and then Roy Colsey2:08 into OT to give the Barrage the victory and end a two game losing streak. Colsey lead all Barrage scores with five points (three goals, two assists) while Seth Goldberg added three goals as well. Brian Dougherty made 32 saves in getting the win.

Western Domination

In 2006, the Barrage enjoyed their run against the West. Counting the postseason, Philly faced the Western teams three times, emerging victorious in all three matches. In the regular season, the Barrage defeated Los Angeles 18-6 at Villanova and won in overtime at Chicago 13-12. They saved the best for last, however, when the destroyed the Denver Outlaws 23-12 in Los Angeles to take home the 2006 MLL Championship. These two teams will meet again this season on July 21 in Denver.

Midseason in Philly

Here are the Barrage's midseason records since moving to Philadelphia for the 2004 season.

2004: 2-4 (final record 7-5, MLL Champions)
2005: 2-4 (final record 4-8, out of playoffs)
2006: 5-1 (final record 10-2, MLL Champions)
2007: 4-2

Local Dragon

The Dragons lineup will have a local flavor to it on Friday night. Widener University grad Todd Fairlie is expected to suit up for San Francisco. Fairlie had an illustrious career at Widener, scoring 271 points in his four seasons of play. He was named as an Honorable Mention All-America as a senior and was a three time All-Middle Atlantic Conference team member. He was selected from the MLL player pool by the Dragons.

New Members

The Barrage made two player acquistions last week, getting Tim Byrnes off of Long Island's Practice squad and picking up Kevin Cassese from Rochester in exchange for future draft picks.

Next Game

The Barrage will travel to Rutgers University on July 12 for their first 2007 meeting with the New Jersey Pride.

Discuss this article in the LAXPhilly Forums