On Saturday afternoon, these two long time rivals will face off in a battle to determine who goes to the Major League Lacrosse Championship.
The Long Island Lizards face the top seeded Denver Outlaws. Long Island barely snuck into the playoffs, getting in on a thread after Rochester fell. Denver dominated the entire season to get to where they are at.
But what about the matchups? Who wins on each unit?
Attack
The Outlaws have a strong, young and quick attack unit. Manned by Brendan Mundorf, a potential MVP, he leads youngsters Mark Matthews, Chris Bocklet Josh Sims and Jordan McBride. Combined, they scored 161 points this season.
For the Lizards, they lost the backbone of their attack unit when they shipped Matt Danowski to Charlotte. Their current unit is very, very young. Their leading scorer is rookie of the year Matt Gibson, and behind him is Ryan Young, Tommy Palasek, Grant Catalino and will Mangan, and then Keith Cromwell who played just in two games.
The Lizards have 138, but give the heavy advantage to the Outlaws in this unit.
Midfield
Let’s start with the Lizards for midfielders. Max Seibald, who they acquired from Denver this off season, led with 39 points. Behind him is a veteran cast of Brian Langtry, Stephen Peyser, Albert Maione, Justin Smith, Mike Ward, and Kevin Unterstein.
Denver also has a strong midfield, led by break out player Jeremy Sieverts. Behind him is Peet Poillon, Terry Kiminer, Drew Snider, Collin Briggs and Justin Pennington.
Once again, Denver gets the advantage.
Defense
Lee Zink leads the Denver defense as defender of the year. Dillon Roy, Steven Holmes, Matt Bocklet and Dan Cocchi.
The rookie CJ Costabile is the top man on the Lizards defensive unit. Chris Passavia, Brian Karalunas, Tim Henderson and Parker McKee also contribute.
This might be a tie, but if I have to chose, I give Denver the advantage again.
Goaltending
Outlaws goaltender Jesse Schwartzman has the second best stats in the league, yet Lizards goalie Drew Adams won goaltender of the year.
This comes down to, who do you want in net when you need a save to be made? I’ll take Adams. Lizards advantage.
