The New York Lizards will look to extend their winning streak to five games as they take on the Chesapeake Bayhawks on Sunday. Earlier this season, the Bayhawks edged the Lizards 12-11 in overtime as Stephen Peyser scored the game winning goal in overtime.
Since the second game of the season, the two teams have gone in completely opposite directions. The Lizards are third in the MLL standings at 7-4 and are also one game behind Rochester and Denver for the top spot in the standings. On the other hand, the Bayhawks are 3-8 and are losers of three of their last four games. Their hopes for a third striaght MLL Championship are very slim as they are two games out of the last playoff spot with three games remanining on the schedule.
The Lizards boast one of the league’s best offenses as they have scored 143 goals this season. Despite being ranked fourth in the league in that statistic, they are four goals behind the league leading Ohio Machine. The offense is led by Rob Pannell who has 43 points this season and exploded for eight points in his most recent outing before the FIL Championships in Denver. He leads an offense that also boasts Ned Crotty and Tommy Palasek on attack. That attack line coupled with Max Seibald, Jo-Jo Marasco and recently acquired Matt Kimmel at midfield provides an offense that is dangerous from every position on the field.
Against Cheapeake, a unit that surprisingly ranks in the top half of the league in goals allowed this season, the Lizards should be able to stretch out this somewhat older defense. Also with Kip Turner having been inactive for the past couple of games, Tyler Fiorito will be seeing plenty of shots on Sunday. Fiorito is a couple years removed from starring at Princeton but has done a solid job in his first real action in the MLL.
Flipping to the other side of the field, the Bayhawks offense has been a heck of a mystery. Entering the season, the Bayhawks were thought to have a video game-type offense with the acquisitions of Peet Poillon and Joe Walters in the offseason. However, the offense ranks as the worst unit in the league as they have scored 115 goals. Joe Walters leads the offense with 28 points while the rest of the offense boasts three 20-point scorers and four other players with at least 10 points.
Despite the Bayhawks deficiencies on offense this season, the Lizards will have their hands full. It doesn’t mean they can’t hold their own even though they allowed 15 goals last week. Remember that was without Drew Adams in goal, Kyle Hartzell at pole and the rest of their best offensive players holding the ball on offense. Expect Adams to make some great saves to cover up some defensive mistakes but also the defense of Hartzell, Brian Karalunas, Joe Fletcher and Steven Holmes to hold their own.
Expect another close game similar to the one played in the early part of the year. The Bayhawks see this game as a win-or-go-home type of scenario, especially if they hope to keep their playoff hopes alive.
