New York Lizards? Yes, the Long Island Lizards have changed their name to become more universal with their team being “based” in New York City. The Lizards have also made moves on the field this off season, and we spoke with MLL coach of the year Joe Spallina about the off season for the Liz.
Moves Made
“We could not be any happier with our off season we have added a tremendous amount of talent to our team without pulling from our core. When you can add Mark Matthews, David Earl, Steve Waldeck to your team without losing a starter its instant success. Not to mention the us finally adding Rob Pannell.”
Draft Moves
“We had a definite plan with both drafts, When we projected the college draft we did not feel the defensemen we had our eye on woulld fall to us so we used the supplemental to add some quality MLL role players and depth, which we accomplished. As the collegiate draft neared we felt we were a very young team and the possibility of trading PICK 5 for Young Proven talent was a strong possibility. Adding David Earl and Steve Waldeck for pick 5 was a homerun.”
Season Expectations
“We feel our team is really well balanced and a very difficult team to defend. I think teams always felt if they could stop one or two of our guys we could be beat and now we put an incredible lineup on the field, so I do not look for one or two guys to step up I look for a well balanced offense. Yes the individual awards were nice but many of those were based on people having low expectations for our team entering the season, most had us picked to finish anywhere from 6-8th place
“Last season was a success No one played as many rookies as us so with us being so young the playoff experience for our men was impoertant. As far as areas of improvement, we felt we really needed to get tougher on the defensive end so adding Jack Reid from Boston was a perfect fit for our team the experience, intensity and desire to win was huge. Steven Waldeck also helps fill that role and is someone I had targeted since I got involved here. He plays hard and is a great cover guy who runs the field and plays with a LI edge.”
Potential Break Outs
“Rob Panell and Mark Matthews, wow is all I can say! These two guys in our opinion are generational talents players that do not come along very often are both young, rising superstars in the lacrosse world. I know both guys are excited to be playing with the other and adding them with our stable of players including the ROY Matt Gibson and Tommy Palasek will be great for our organization. Mark is already off to a tremndous start on his NLL career and NY can not wait for him. Rob is beginning his final year at Cornell and after getting a glimpse of him playing team USA we can not wait,”
