July 1, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

Downing provides midfield support

by Andy Vogt/

One week after scoring four goals against the Cannons, Greg Downing (left) was acquired for the seventh pick in the MLL college draft. (photo: Boston Cannons)

One week after scoring four goals against the Cannons, Greg Downing (left) was acquired for the seventh pick in the MLL college draft. (photo: Boston Cannons)

If the Boston Cannons needed any reinforcement in their desire to acquire Greg Downing, his performance on May 22 might have just cinched it.

Downing, then playing for the Denver Outlaws, helped fuel a 15-14 win at Harvard Stadium by scoring four goals for the visitors. One week later, he was wearing a Boston uniform, having been traded for the seventh overall pick on the day of this year’s MLL Collegiate Draft.

“Maybe that was the reason they decided to make the trade,” Downing joked.

From the Cannons’ locker-room perspective, there was plenty to like about the transaction. Boston coach Bill Daye now has some added versatility to insert into his midfield, while Sean Morris, Jack Reid and Mitch Belisle now have another familiar face from their indoor season with the NLL’s Boston Blazers.

Perhaps the only one who wasn’t initially thrilled to see Downing was Cannons goalie Kip Turner, who allowed all four of Downing’s tallies in the loss to Denver.

“Kip asked me if I felt bad about scoring all four goals against him — he gave me a little bit of a hassle,” Downing said.

Turner can sleep a bit easier now with Downing on his own sideline. After a somewhat slow start with his new team, in which he only had one goal in his first two games, Downing caught fire, scoring three in Boston’s 22-11 rout of Chicago on June 13, and followed it up with another four-goal effort in a 17-8 pasting of Washington the next week.

The scoring is nice, but Daye said Downing’s all-around game is what caught the team’s eye.

“We were definitely looking for more firepower, guys that can create off the dodge, but also guys that can help us at both ends of the field,” the Cannons coach said. “He definitely fit the template.

“We tend to specialize when it comes to midfielders. We have D-middies, transition middies, and O-guys. But when you have a guy like Greg Downing … he’s smart enough in transition to make the good decision, and he can put the ball in the back of the net.”

Downing said that versatility has been a big part of his overall package since he stepped onto the campus at Fairfield University. He was an immediate contributor for the Stags, scoring 20 goals in his freshman season of 2004 and tallying at least that number in each of his four years. He finished his career with 141 points and three All-America honorable mention selections.

He led the Stags to an NCAA tournament berth in 2005, but Fairfield has rarely been mentioned in the same breath as schools such as Virginia, Johns Hopkins and Syracuse. And only a handful of former Stags, including current Long Island faceoff man Peter Vlahakis, have had substantial success in MLL.

“It’s much harder to get your name on the map when you’re coming from a small school,” Downing said. “If you ask that same question to players who came from Division 2 programs, they’ll say the same thing. Coming from a small school, you have to prove that you belong.”

In his first two MLL seasons, Downing was making the trek each week out to Los Angeles before being allocated to Denver in the offseason. But his desire to play near his home in New York, where he works for Merrill Lynch, caused him to seek a trade. When draft day came, the Cannons were more than willing to spin a deal.

Despite moving to a new franchise in midseason, Downing said the adjustment period wasn’t that difficult. He alluded to several other Cannons being in the same boat, with Ryan Boyle missing the first game due to an NLL commitment, along with John Christmas and Matt Poskay also being out for the season opener.

“Right now, we’re getting the full offense together and starting to click a little bit,” he said.

Morris, for one, is thrilled about the addition of his Blazers teammate.

“To have Paul [Rabil] and Greg on the same line … allows us to be a lot more flexible,” Morris said. “He’s not afraid to go in the middle, and he’s very unselfish as a player. But he also knows the time to take his shot.”

That shot is something Morris refers to as the “Greg Downing Special” — a quick dodge, followed by a whipping, almost underhand-style motion. Downing describes it as similar to a slap shot in hockey, which shouldn’t be surprising since he was recruited to play junior hockey out of high school in Auburn, N.Y., before settling on Fairfield instead. And according to his Wikipedia page, Downing’s shot has been clocked at 109 miles per hour (although he thinks that might be an exaggeration, saying his shot is more deceptive than blazingly fast).

Plus, the added attention the Cannons hope he’ll continue to bring may provide a boost to his teammates’ numbers.

“Now my role on the field is to beat that initial guy and draw the slide,” said the 2009 All-Star. “As long as you draw one slide, it’s usually going to be a goal because you can find a shooter on the back side.”

Surprisingly, Downing hasn’t found time to explore much of the city, even after a full winter with the Blazers and now coming back for the summer weekends. With many of his Blazers teammates living in the North End, most of his time then was spent within walking distance of the TD Banknorth Garden.

His return hasn’t added much to his familiarity of Boston’s hot spots, although he’s found the Harvard Stadium turf to be more than welcoming.

“I was definitely someone who pushed for him to get here,” Morris said. “His biggest attribute is just the ability to go 100 percent, real hard. He can be a real handful to cover.”

That’s something the Cannons found out first-hand before they decided to bring him to their side.

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