After the Lizards beat the Rattlers on Saturday in the MLL Championship, Greg Gurenlian shared what made this Lizards team different.
“When you go into a fourth quarter like that and you feel like if I don’t do my job, I’m going to let my brothers down, it changes everything,” Gurenlian said in a postgame interview.
From the moment the Paul Rabil trade became official, New York was the league’s frontrunner. But the challenge of going wire-to-wire from offseason to postseason is a daunting one.
For the Lizards, the outside expectations didn’t matter. NY had arguably the best player in the league at every position. Attack Rob Pannell led the league in points. Rabil had the second most for a midfielder. Gurenlian was named league MVP and was by far the league’s best faceoff specialist. Defender Joe Fletcher won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award and goalie Drew Adams was named Goalie of the Year.
It was as if it was meant to be. But in sports, when is the script ever followed perfectly?
“I can’t believe it. This doesn’t happen,” Gurenlian said. “I just love this team.”
That’s why this team was special. As Gurenlian said, this doesn’t happen. But it did. And that’s why it should be remembered.
Nearly every championship team has its ups and downs. Its final triumph at the end of the season is usually what fans laud. But the 2015 MLL edition will be remembered only for its ups.
The only “downs” of the season were two irrelevant losses on the back end of the schedule. If you ask me, I wouldn’t even classify them in that category.
The ultimate goal never wavered.
Credit must be given to the Lizards’ front office. The message to the rest of the league was sent in January and received in August. New York was making a run at a championship. And as Gurenlian pointed out, simply the star-power is not what led the Lizards.
“Just because some guys have more endorsements than others doesn’t mean that we’re better on paper than them,” Gurenlian said. “… We had the best locker room. Our guys loved each other and we talk about it everyday.”
The beautiful thing about sports is the narrative each season tells.
The 2015 New York Lizards have one to remember.
