Charlotte Hounds (4-9) at Chesapeake Bayhawks (4-9)
7 p.m., Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, Md.
The two finalists in last year’s Major League Lacrosse championship game aren’t in playoff contention this season, but the Hounds and Bayhawks do have something on the line in Saturday’s season finale – avoiding finishing last in the MLL standings.
There is a benefit for Chesapeake if they do lose – the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s MLL collegiate draft. That will most likely to be Albany attacker Lyle Thompson, who set a single-season NCAA record with 128 points his junior year.
Charlotte wouldn’t benefit similarly from a loss – the Hounds traded their first-round pick to the then-Hamilton Nationals (now the Florida Launch) to acquire midfielder Josh Hawkins just before the 2013 trade deadline.
Charlotte has lost four straight games, and is 0-6 in MLL road games this season, the first team to go winless on the road since the now-defunct Chicago Machine went 0-6 during the 2008 season.
But the Bayhawks haven’t fared much better this season – they’ve lost three of their past four games, and are 2-4 at home. That’s the worst Chesapeake has performed at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium since the 2011 season, when it went 2-4.
The Hounds hold a 3-2 edge in regular-season games against the Bayhawks, including a 12-7 victory at Charlotte’s American Legion Memorial Stadium on May 10.
