At the Major League Lacrosse trade deadline, the New York Lizards – who had lost four of their previous five contests – made a splash. New York acquired All-Star attackman Will Manny and midfielder Joe LoCascio from the Boston Cannons in exchange for Dave Lawson and Chris LaPierre.

The move paid off immediately.

New York came from behind and defeated the Ohio Machine – one of the top two teams in the league – by a score of 15-14, and the two newest Lizards played a big part in the victory.

While Paul Rabil and Rob Pannell each scored two goals and had four assists, it was Manny who was named Coca-Cola Player of the Game thanks to a game-high and season-high five goals in his first match as a member of the Lizards.

“You couldn’t draw it up better than this,” Manny said on Lax Sports Network after the game. “It’s been an emotional 48 hours. It is lacrosse. Its professional lacrosse, so trades happen. You let that settle in, finally. It’s been tough. I had a lot of phone calls from a lot of people that made me settle in. Coming to practice last night, having a lot of fun with these guys, having a relationship with Paul (Rabil) and Rob (Pannell), and then getting support from other guys, and then, obviously, coming here with Joe has been awesome. And here you go, right? That’s why you play 60 minutes. I’ve lost twice to these guys already with Boston, and coming back here to get this win and fighting back, down, just like they beat us, is pretty special.”

LoCascio also had a big debut for New York, scoring three goals – including one two-pointer – and adding one assist for five points. Two of LoCascio’s goals came in the fourth quarter, including a two-pointer with 56 seconds remaining in the game that would wind up being the game-winning score.

On that goal, Rabil drew a double-team in the bottom-right portion of the field and passed it to LoCascio at the top of the two-point arc, allowing him to step down and shoot.

Lizards head coach Joe Spallina was pleased with the outcome and offered this effort as a sign of things to come.

“It’s a lot of proud guys in that huddle: myself, all the coaches, and obviously there’s a ton of great players,” he said on Lax Sports Network after the game. “Our guys read. We listen. Obviously, a lot of people are enjoying the fact we haven’t had a great year, but you just have to win games and get in the playoffs. Once you get in, it’s just about winning the last two games and getting it done. We have veterans who are fighters. This was the best team in the league coming into the game, and our guys had a huge home W.”

Atlanta Makes Franchise History 

Nine different Atlanta players recorded at least one point, and the defense held the Florida Launch to only four goals en route to a 17-4 victory. The win was the widest margin in an MLL game this season, and it was also the first time in Blaze history they held their opponent to fewer than 10 goals.

While All-Star Kevin Rice led all scorers with five goals and seven points (he also had two assists), both James Pannell and Mark Matthews each had three goals, with Matthews also adding two assists.

“We had good spacing,” Rice said on Lax Sports Network after the game, “and we had a good win tonight.”

On the other side of the field, goalie Adam Ghitelman saved 12 of 16 shots and the defense held Kieran McArdle, Connor Buczek and Dylan Molloy all goal-less, allowing only Molloy to register a single assist. Florida scored only once in the entire second half.

Atlanta also picked up 37 ground balls to Florida’s 24, and rookie Jake Withers dominated at the face-off X, going 14-22, picking up nine ground balls, scoring one goal, and assisting on another.

Bayhawks Break Skid

After an overtime loss to the Lizards in the season opener, the Chesapeake Bayhawks rattled off three victories and were towards the top of the league standings. The team ran into some tough luck, however, losing their next four games, two of them by a goal apiece.

One of those losses came in overtime while on the road against the Rochester Rattlers, but in Week 11 the Bayhawks got some revenge, breaking out for a 19-9 victory over the Rattlers in Annapolis.

The Rattlers opened the game with a 5-3 lead after the first quarter, but the momentum swung when Chesapeake scored the first four goals in the second quarter and went into halftime up by a goal. Rochester would score only two goals the entire second half and none in the fourth quarter.

“Even though we started slow, we played with a lot of energy all game,” Bayhawks head coach Brian Reese said on Lax Sports Network after the game. “We made the little plays, the ground ball plays, that led to goals. When we made stops, it led to goals. It was the first time we’ve had our whole team playing together, defense playing well, offense playing well. C.J. Costabile came in the face-off and did a great job there. Goalies played well. It was kind of the complete game we’ve been waiting for.”

Four players scored at least five points for the Bayhawks, including Lyle Thompson (five goals, two assists), Matt Abbott (four goals, two assists), Josh Byrne (two goals, three assists), and Jake Froccaro (one two-point goal, three assists).

Noteworthy

The loss to the Lizards marked the first time the Ohio Machine lost a game in which Kyle Bernlohr started in goal. Bernlohr – who is second in the league in goals against average (10.90) and tied for second in save percentage (.560) – made 15 saves on the night but only five in the entire second half and one in the fourth quarter. … Jake Bernhardt had three goals and three assists for the Machine in their loss to New York. … Atlanta’s Dylan Donahue had one goal and three assists in the victory over Florida. … Rookie defender Alec Tulett scored one of Florida’s four goals, giving him two on the season. … Rookie Colin Heacock scored two goals for Chesapeake. … Jordan Wolf (one goal, three assists) and Jordan MacIntosh (three goals, one assist) each led the Rattlers with four points. Wolf assisted on two of MacIntosh’s three goals.

Player of the Week

Lyle Thompson, A, Chesapeake

In his second game with the Bayhawks, Thompson led all scorers with five goals and seven points, tying him for the most points in a game in Week 11. His five goals came off eight shots on goal and nine shots total. He scored at least one goal in each quarter, and had three points in the fourth quarter, assisting on both of Colin Heacock’s goals.