Sports stats



MLL New York Lizards

Lizards End Regular Season with 7-5 Record

August 9, 2010 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
New York Lizards News Release


With the Bayhawks playing at 7 PM as well, the Lizards did not have the luxury of going easy on the Nationals in their season finale. Despite their 3-8 record, Brodie Merrill and the Nationals had every intention of defeating the Lizards, just as they had in the semifinals last season. They even had some tricks up their sleeves, switching up the jersey #'s and placing G Brett Queener in midfield. Joe Spallina got the opportunity to coach the Lizards on Saturday and led them to their most impressive defensive performance of the season, as Brian Spallina and the Lizards defeated Toronto 13-7.

After being outscored by the Nationals 3-0 in the first quarter of last week's game, the Lizards were the first to strike in this week's contest. Goettelmann opened up the scoring for the Lizards with a goal off the out of bounds just 39 seconds in the game. After scoring three goals in the final quarter of last week's game, Goettelmann took no time to score his all-time leading 249th career goal Saturday.

However, this would be the lone offensive highlight of the quarter for the Lizards, as they came out sloppily once again. Following a technical foul by Berger, Polanco made a beautiful play on the man down, deflecting the shot and picking up the groundball for the offense to kill the penalty. Penalty-killing had been an issue in the first 11 games for the Lizards, as they had allowed goals on 37.29% of their opponents' man up possessions. The Nationals continued their trickery with their uniform numbers, as Chris Daniello, wearing #14 this week, scored his second goal of his career to tie up the contest with 9:02 left in the quarter. Stephen Berger was not having his way in the first quarter, as a slash was called on him with 6:28 left in the first. The penalty for Berger marked his second of the quarter. John Orsen scooped up the groundball off a caused turnover by Polanco on the man down, as the Lizards improved to 2-0 on penalty kills in the contest. Following a careless turnover, Ricky Pages let out his rage and laid out his man, Joel Zalesky, who was making his MLL debut. The hit may well have been the hit of the year for the Lizards, as it allowed the defense to get settled. Despite the heroic defensive effort, the hot play of Brice Queener continued, as he scored his second goal in just as many weeks to put the Nationals on top. The Lizards, with some careless turnovers, only found themselves down 2-1 after one quarter. However, one would like to have seen the Lizards do more offensively against the depleted Nationals.

Just as Goettelmann had done in the first, Tim opened up the scoring with a pass to a wide open Berger in the second. The goal knotted up the game at 2-2. Stephen Peyser blew by Steven Waldeck and fired his first goal since the World Lacrosse Championships to put the Lizards on top. Peyser scored two goals in the tournament with USA, but was unable to score last week. Following the faceoff win by Vlahakis, Mike Ward fed Matt Danowski for his 25th goal of the season. Nicky Polanco and the defense really picked up the intensity, as they completely shut down Grant Jr. and the Nationals in the second quarter, holding them scoreless for the second straight game in the 2nd quarter, as the Lizards advanced to halftime up 4-2. The defense, just as it had been all season, was tenacious, holding the Nationals scoreless for the last 17 and a half minutes of the quarter.

Two stories dominated the third quarter of the game, with one being the explosion of the offense, particularly on the powerplay. Chris Fiore, who had already taken 5 shots on the game, fired another one from 2 point range, as he put the Lizards up 6-3 with under 9 minutes in the third. The 2 pointer marked his fourth of the season, as he tied Danowski for the team lead. From there, the Nationals started to look demoralized and showed it on the field. An illegal body check by Geoff Snider gave the Lizards their first man up of the quarter, on which Stephen Peyser and the gang would capitalize. Beautiful ballwork gave Peyser an easy opportunity, as he gave the Lizards a 7-3 lead. Moments later, the fans thought they were experiencing deja vu. However, it was just another penalty by Snider, which once again was succeeded by a Peyser score off a Cromwell pass. A penalty by Merrill on the ensuing faceoff gave the Lizards their third powerplay of the quarter. Fiore scored off Cromwell's third PPA of the game, as the team that entered the contest with just 7 PPG goals now had 3 on the evening. The offense scored seven points in a quarter for the third time this season.

Brian Spallina and the defense were the other big story in the third quarter of Saturday's game. Brian Spallina's epic battle with John Grant, Jr. continued on Saturday and was particularly noteworthy during the third quarter. Spallina held the Canadian to just one goal last week and had the attackman fuming, as at one point he threw his helmet on the ground. Following the first Peyser goal Saturday, Spallina caused Grant to carelessly fumble the ball out of bounds, as the frustrations continued for the two-time MLL MVP. After a beautiful save by Adams, McKee hit Goettelmann for the goal in transition, as the Monster scored his 2nd goal of the quarter and third of the game, giving the Lizards an 11-3 lead and proving how much the transition game had improved with the selection of McKee in the draft.

The Lizards decided to finally take Drew Adams out of goal following the beautiful save, as the man who had not missed a second all season got some well deserved rest. In the fourth quarter, Dan Cocchi scored his first goal of the season off the transition game on a pass by Polanco. Mike Ward and the Lizards answered the Nationals goal, as the Lizards took a 13-4 lead off the midfielder's fourth goal of the season. A scary moment then occurred, as midfielder Brett Queener awkwardly fell on the ground. The warrior, commonly found inbetween the pipes, looked to be in extreme pain and thus left the game. The Nationals fans, despite the Queener injury, had something to cheer about moments later. Grant, Jr. finally got on the board on the man up, as he fired home a two pointer with 6:25 left. The goal was only his first of the game, but would not be his last. Grant got some extra space on Spallina, as he fired home yet another goal. However, during a timeout, Grant pulled off his equipment, as the Nationals decided to sit down the great attackman. He finished the season with a team-high 19 goals.

The contest ended with a Lizards 13-7 victory. The seven points for the Nationals were the fewest surrendered by the Lizards defense this season, showing how much it has improved over the course of 2010. The Bud Light MVP of the game, Mike Ward, cited the excellent play in transition of Orsen, Pages, Unterstein and Cocchi, as being key to the victory, as well as the winning streak. The win for the Lizards marks their fifth straight, which is their longest streak since June 2008. Matt Danowski, who needed 5 points to get to 50, was only able to score a goal and assist. Still, he should be the favorite for the Bud Light MVP award, especially with the Lizards' 7th win. If this is in fact Goettelmann's last regular season game, he will finish his amazing career with 251 goals in 122 games. Zack Greer, who had missed time due to the World Lacrosse Championships, as well as an injury, was unable to get on the boards during Saturday's contest. However, Zack and the Lizards will now have two weeks to prepare for Championship Weekend, as they will enter as the #3 seed and the hottest team in Annapolis.

Check out the New York Lizards Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Major League Lacrosse message board...

Major League Lacrosse Stories from August 9, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent New York Lizards Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central