Mission accomplished! That should be the motto for the 2015 New York Lizards.
When the Paul Rabil trade went down in January, everyone with any tie to Major League Lacrosse dubbed the Lizards the overwhelming favorite to win the Steinfeld Cup. Moreover, many said it would be a disappointment if they did not win it all. That is a lot of pressure. It is very difficult to perform when the expectations are so high. There is no room for error.
Much of the credit for this Lizards championship goes to head coach Joe Spallina. Back on April 19, the Lizards played the Rattlers and I was on the broadcast. I talked to coach Spallina during the week and before the game. We spent some time on managing expectations and managing egos. He was quick to point out that there were no egos on this team and that they all were buying in to the “We before Me” type attitude. With so many stars on the team, it was hard to imagine how all of the personalities would be content on assuming a role where they would not get as many goals or assists, etc. But, I felt Spallina was genuine in his belief that he and the leaders on the team had a full buy-in. As they were storming through the rest of the league to a 6-0 start, thoughts of an undefeated season were rampant.
Then, back to back losses to Florida and Charlotte, the worst two teams in the league got some to wonder if the Lizards were not who we thought they were. Spallina convinced his team to still keep focus on the end goal. Every champion has to overcome some failure during the season. As New York limped home 4-4 to end the regular season, I for one, had some concerns if the team that was too good to be true, was in fact not the team we thought they were.
In the semifinals, New York fell down early 5-1 to Boston. In the title game, Rochester jumped out to a 6-2 lead. Both times, the Lizards confidence in themselves and the trust of their teammates led to comeback wins.
Spallina never wavered from his philosophy that if you fight for the guy next to you, good things will happen. He asked them back in January to check their egos at the door. He also texted his players a picture of the Steinfeld Cup to remind them what was important shortly after the trade. The veterans like Rabil, Brian Spallina, Rob Pannell, etc took a cue from their coach and made sure this team would develop chemistry as the season went on.
Spallina accomplished something significant this year. Many “all-star” type of teams fail to win it all because they lose focus on their goal. Spallina set the goal in January with the picture text. He spent as much time on keeping his team focused and ready to fight for the guy next to you as he did X’s and O’s. The 2015 New York Lizards will go down along with the 2005 Baltimore Bayhawks as the greatest MLL team ever assembled. It was not an easy task, but to get 25 guys to believe in the same goal and keep them focused for eight months shows the true MVP of the team was their coach.
Brendan McDaniels is a color analyst for the MLL Television broadcasts. Follow Brendan on Twitter @McDanielsSports.
