Tonight the Hamilton Nationals were eliminated from Major League Lacrosse playoff contention with their loss to the Long Island Lizards, 19-12. The Nationals needed a win to to stay alive.
David Earl scored four goals to lead the efforts for the Nats, but the lost the battle in faceoffs, shots off faceoffs, ground balls, and on the score board. They did have two more shots on goal than the Lizards.
Hamilton is the second team to be eliminated from the playoffs, along with the Charlotte Hounds, who are also now out because of the Lizards victory tonight.
The Lizards dominated most of the game, and leading the efforts was rookie Tommy Palasek who shot the ball six times and scored six times. He also had an assist for a career high seven points.
Stephen Peyser also had three goals and the Lizards were able to get two goal games out of Will Managan and Max Seibald. Drew Adams played fifty six minutes in net, where he allowed eleven Nationals goals but made fifteen saves.
Scott Rodgers and Brett Queener split time in net for the Nationals as always. Rodgers allowed nine goals and Queener allowed eight. The Lizards now lead the Boston Cannons by a whole game in the standings and also hold the tiebreaker. Meanwhile, the Nationals will begin thinking towards 2013 with three games left in 2012.
