The Long Island Lizards have now put themselves into a must-win situation in their game next week against the Hamilton Nationals. Last night the Lizards fell to the Chesapeake Bayhawks 13-6 in Chesapeake. The Bayhawks have already clinched a playoff spot and the Lizards could have clinched with a win last night. Fortunately for them, as long as they can get a win against the Nationals next week, they are in to Championship Weekend.
The Lizards struggled to get much going offensively and that started with the face-offs; “The Beast†was only able to win 8 of 20. Greg Gurenlian, who usually is a sure-fire thing, struggled against the Bayhawks’ Adam Rand (12 of 20). Going into the game Gurenlian had a .611 winning percentage versus Rand’s .538 percentage.
Long Island didn’t have anyone with multiple goals in their loss last night. Six players scored goals and a few added assists, but only two players had more than one point; Grant Catalino and Matt Gibson both had two points for the Lizards. Long Island couldn’t seem to find their team chemistry that they had been showing the last few games and without that chemistry, they fell flat when they really needed a win.
Ben Hunt led the Bayhawks in scoring with four points (3 g, 1 2-pt) and added four groundballs as well. John Grant Jr and Steven Brooks each added three points for the Bayhawks who will end their season next week against the Denver Outlaws. Seven players scored goals for the Bayhawks, three of whom had multiple goals. Kyle Dixon scored his 13th two-point goal of the year giving the Bayhawks the record for most team two-pointers in a season with 26.
In goal for the Lizards, Drew Adams played a solid game stopping 13 of 24 shots. Adams was a huge reason that the Lizards didn’t lose by more than the seven goals that they did. Adams’ final save percentage for the day was .541 percent which was slightly higher than the .534 percentage he went into the game with.
For Chesapeake, Kip Turner had a great game rejecting 10 of 16 shots for a .625 final save percentage. Going into the game Turner had the highest save percentage and goals average against (GAA) among active goalies and only added to his lead with such a great game.
Next week Chesapeake hosts the Denver Outlaws in a battle of the top two teams in the league. Denver got a win against the Rochester Rattlers last night with a score of 17-12. The winner of that game will go into Championship Weekend with the top seed. Long Island will travel to Hamilton to take on the Nationals who lost to the Charlotte Hounds 11-9 at home last night. With just one week remaining in the season and two playoff spots left for three teams, there are sure to be plenty of exciting games.
