Long Island Week 8 Preview

6/28/10 8:00 AM

Long Island Week 8 Preview

Derek McLean

The desperate Long Island Lizards (2-5) will look to get back into the hunt for Championship Weekend this Saturday when they return home to take on the Chicago Machine (4-3).

Last week the Lizards fell to Boston 17-14. On the positive side for Long Island, Zack Greer scored 6 times in the game leading an attack that featured 8 different goal scorers. Long Island scored a season high 14 goals in the loss. But all of that wasn’t enough as the Lizards blew a 13-5 third quarter lead in the loss.

The Lizards will have to put that behind them and get ready for a Machine team they have already beaten this season. The two squared off in Week 5 and the Lizards were the team scoring a come from behind win. Long Island trailed the whole game but tied the score with 11 seconds left on a goal by Tim Goettelmann. Moments later Goettelmann scored in overtime, giving the Lizards a 13-12 victory.

The Lizards are currently tied for last place of the Major League Lacrosse standings, two games out of a playoff spot. A win this week for the Lizards would bring them back within one game with only 5 games remaining in the regular season, a loss would make it very difficult for the Lizards to get in.

If the Lizards are going to make a run at the postseason they will need to find solutions for the inconsistency and prolonged scoring droughts that have been major problems for the team all season. The Lizards have allowed 3 or more consecutive goals by teams in every game this season. On Saturday they allowed 10 straight points to the Cannons over a span of nearly 17 minutes.

“We’ve got to come focused and put a full 60 together,” says Zack Greer. “We’ve got to get better and come out there hard next week.”

The Machine has a high scoring offense led by the Kevin and Mike Leveille. The brothers have scored a combined 55 points so far this season. Chicago’s offense also features Bill McGlone and Chris Rotelli who have both scored over 10 goals. The veteran Lizards’ defense will have to find a way to slow down all of that firepower.

“We’re going to go after them like we did last time,” says defenseman Nicky Polanco. “We’ve got to be strong, aggressive, and ready to go.”

The last time the two met marked the debut of the first overall pick in the 2010 MLL Draft , Ned Crotty, who scored a goal in the game. Now 4 weeks into his career, Crotty could become more integrated in the Machine’s offense and become a dangerous scoring threat, last week he scored 2 goals and 3 assists.

The Machine has scored 157 points this season, which is just 9 points behind the league leading Chesapeake Bayhawks. Chicago has scored 14 or more goals in 5 of 7 games played this year. Their season low came in the overtime loss against the Lizards when they scored 12.

“They are a great team, with a great offense,” says Greer. “We’ve got to come out there mentally focused and ready to play. We know they are going to come after us especially since we beat them in overtime.”

Long Island’s defense will benefit with the return of long stick midfielder Ricky Pages, who was lost to an injury in the first week of the season. The Lizards have a veteran defense led by Polanco, Brian Spallina, and Dan Cocchi. The unit has allowed 86 goals, which is the fewest in the league.

Polanco has been perhaps the best defenseman for the Lizards in 2010. Following a disappointing 2009 season, he is back to his old form. Polanco has scooped up 34 groundballs so far this season, the fourth highest amount in Major League Lacrosse.

“The team’s MVP to this point is Nicky,” says Lizards Head Coach Jim Mule. “He is having a great season. Nicky is back to being on the top of his game.”

Long Island’s first year starting goalie Drew Adams has exceeded expectations for the Lizards early on in his career he leads the league in goals against average. “He has done a great job for us,” says Mule. “He has been the most improved player for us so far.”

However Adams has struggled at times with stopping 2-pointers. He has allowed 9 2-point goals this year, the most in the league, “2- pointers are a part of the game I have struggled with,” says Adams. “Letting up 2-point goals is a little demeaning. It’s something I need to work on for the rest of the year.”

Fortunately for Adams, Chicago has only scored 3 goals from beyond the arch this year. But they have plenty of shooters so Adams needs to be ready.

But still the strides Adams has made over the course of the season have been a very promising sign for the Lizards.

“I am definitely a lot more confident and comfortable than I was 6 weeks ago. I have learned a lot,” he says. “Every time I go out there something new comes up. I feel like I’m learning something new every single week.”

The problems for the Lizards have come on the offensive end. They have scored a league low 74 goals and 106 points. Last week’s loss was the only time the Lizards have scored 14 goals in a game this season. Only Matt Danowski (13) and Zack Greer (12) have scored more than 10 goals for the Lizards this season. Stephen Berger, Tim Goettelmann, and John Glynn are the teams only other players to have also scored at least 11 points. Against a team as good offensively as the Machine are, the Lizards will need to do better.

The Lizards have had their chances. The team has taken 303 shots through the first 7 games this season. But only .244 percent of the Lizards shots become goals, the league’s worst percentage.

“It’s not that we are playing bad offensively,” says Mule. “We have just been struggling with our shots. When we have the ball, we need to finish.”

The game time is 3 pm EST Saturday, at James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, N and can be seen live on ESPN 2 and ESPN3.com

You can also follow the game online with our Live Blog and Chat presented by Warrior.com at www.majorleaguelacrosse.com.

2010 Major League Lacrosse Championship Weekend presented by Warrior
August 21-22, Annapolis, MD
For information and tickets go to www.majorleaguelacrosse.com