Bayhawks eliminated from playoffs after 9-8 overtime loss to Boston
July 17, 2015 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Chesapeake Bayhawks News Release
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND- Goalie Tyler Fiorito was nothing short of spectacular on Thursday night, making a career-high 31 saves as the Chesapeake Bayhawks went down to the wire with the Boston Cannons in front of 7,944 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Fiorito stymied the Cannons time and time again with amazing stops, but his efforts were not quite enough as the Bayhawks suffered a heart-breaking 9-8 overtime loss to the Cannons. Fiorito's previous career-high had been 24 saves, amassed earlier this season against Rochester.
"Tyler Fiorito was absolutely unbelievable. I haven't seen a performance like that in a long time," Chesapeake midfielder Joe Walters said.
Fiorito leads Major League Lacrosse with 237 saves, a whopping 51 more than any other keeper. The former Princeton All-American is the leading candidate for MLL Goalie of the Year honors as he also leads the league with a phenomenal .598 save percentage.
"Tyler has been playing great all year. He's been so consistent so it's not like this was some fluke thing. He's been incredible in cage every game," Chesapeake defenseman Jesse Bernhardt said.
Attackman Ben Rubeor and midfielder Matt Abbott scored two goals apiece to lead the offense for the Bayhawks (5-8), who have officially been eliminated from the playoffs. Walters dished off two assists while attackman Matt Donovan had a goal and two assists for Chesapeake, which needed to beat Boston by four goals in order to remain alive for the playoffs going into next Saturday's regular season finale at home against Charlotte.
"It just wasn't clicking for us tonight," Walters said when told the Bayhawks hit a season-low for goals. "There's nothing else to really say. It just wasn't our day. You can't have an off night when you're trying to win a game by four goals. I thought our defensive played outstanding. The defense was great and the offense just didn't get it done."
Faceoff specialist Eric O'Brien made his Bayhawks' debut and was doing pretty well before breaking his collar bone just minutes into the second half. That proved problematic as Boston won 14 of 21 faceoffs.
While the defense was strong overall, it performed particular well when short-handed. The Cannons were just 1-for-7 on the power play, a tribute to the home team's penalty killing unit.
"I thought we played great man-down defense tonight," Cottle said. "Boston had a bunch of extra man chances and couldn't take advantage because we did such a good job."
It was a defensive struggle for most of the first half with neither team managing to score a goal for the first 25 minutes, 31 seconds. Boston attackman finally broke the drought by finishing a fastbreak with 4:29 left in the second quarter.
Chesapeake scored its first goal with 46 seconds left in the first half with rookie midfielder Henry Schoonmaker getting the honors. Rookie attackman Matt Donovan found Schoonmaker open up top and the former Syracuse University standout made a nice dodge then fired a jump shot that bounced in front of the crease and skipped into the net.
The Bayhawks scored again with 8.9 seconds to go as Donovan drew a slide and dished to a wide-open Danowski, who drove from behind to goal-line extended before canning a lefty shot from the doorstep to make it 2-2 at intermission.
Fiorito was simply fantastic in the first half, practically standing on his head in stopping 14 shots in shutting out the visitors for the better part of two periods. Boston outshot Chesapeake 31-15 over the opening 15 minutes.
Chesapeake came out much sharper on offense in the second half, scoring two goals in the opening 4 ½ minutes to take a 4-2 lead. Midfielder Ben Hunt barreled past a short stick defender and fired a short bounce shot into the cage.
Abbott then took advantage of the fact he had Kevin Buchanan trapped on the offensive end, using a nice spin move to get past the offensive middie and slipping inside for a one-on-one opportunity. Abbott jumped just as he shot and the ball hit the back of the net before he came down in the crease. Cannons head coach John Tucker challenged, but the goal was upheld.
Chesapeake led 6-5 and 7-6, but just could not string together enough goals to gain some breathing room. Bernhardt did not blame the offense, saying the defense just needed to get one more stop.
"It's a team game. We're not the type to point fingers. Overall, we needed to play better all over the field tonight and that's kind of been the story of the season," Bernhardt said.
Major League Lacrosse Stories from July 17, 2015
- Bayhawks eliminated from playoffs after 9-8 overtime loss to Boston - Chesapeake Bayhawks
- Rattlers Use Strong Second Half to Beat Hounds 18-10 - Charlotte Hounds
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