Phil Shore (@PShore15) is a US Lacrosse Magazine contributor specializing in Major League Lacrosse coverage. His new book, “Major League Life: Why Major League Lacrosse Players, Coaches, and Fans Share a Passion for a League that Often Goes Overlooked​” is now available on Amazon. You can purchase the book here.

Below is an excerpt from the book that focuses on Chesapeake Bayhawks star Lyle Thompson.

As Chesapeake’s players celebrated on the field, the Bayhawks logo was the image on all of the championship shirts and hats. It took a team – particularly one like the Bayhawks that had a number of returning veterans like Abbott, Costabile, Phipps, Amato, and Jesse Bernhardt – to win the championship. The face of the 2019 MLL season, however, was Lyle Thompson.

Thompson was one of the most popular players in NCAA lacrosse when he was at Albany (surprising as it was to not play for a school like Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, or Duke). He was a two-time Tewaaraton Award winner, one of only two players in the history of the award to do so. He set the NCAA Division 1 records for career points (400) and assists (225), and he did it with a litany of SportsCenter worthy plays.

He was selected first overall by the Florida Launch in the 2015 MLL Collegiate Draft. While he provided moments of brilliance, Thompson never had the same season-long impact in MLL that he did in NCAA. The answer why it never happened was simple: he never played a full season.

From 2015 to 2018, Thompson never played more than nine games in a season due to the overlap between MLL and NLL (where he won the championship and league MVP with the Georgia Swarm in 2017). In 2018, between overlaps with the NLL and FIL World Championships, Thompson played in only three MLL games that season. 

Prior to the 2019 season, Lyle’s brother, Miles, and his cousins, Jeremy and Ty, moved from the MLL to the PLL, and many fans assumed Lyle would do so as well. In 2017, however, Lyle had signed a contract extension with MLL and the Bayhawks that would keep him with Chesapeake through 2021. With the start of the MLL season moving from April to June, the overlap between MLL and NLL was removed, meaning the team and league would get a full season of Lyle Thompson.

He did not disappoint. Thompson led the league in points and goals. He was the captain of one of the two All-Star teams.

“He was the best player in the league,” Bayhawks head coach Dave Cottle said about him.

The fans adored him.

At the July 20 game against the New York Lizards, young lacrosse players were invited down to the field to form a tunnel and high-five Bayhawks players as they were announced onto the field. When Thompson was announced, he made it halfway through the line before the tunnel collapsed into a mob of children surrounding him.

That same day, in the midst of a heat wave, Thompson spent the morning and afternoon in three different media sessions as well as an autograph signing.

“Sometimes, it’s overwhelming,” he said, “but for the most part, I just try to be there for the fans as much as possible.”

Even opponents were amazed by him.

“He’s unguardable,” Outlaws attackman John Grant Jr. said after Denver played Chesapeake on the Fourth of July. “Clearly, if he’s not the best player in the world, he’s definitely in the top three. And unfortunately, watching him do it against my team is tough, but a dazzling player to watch. The league is very, very lucky to have a guy like that.”

All the attention Thompson received could be distracting for his team or cause some to get jealous, but his teammates share the admiration for Thompson, and most of it is because of how humble and unselfish he is.

“He’s a freak,” Costabile said. “The beauty of him is he’s not one of those players who does it himself, and it’s just about him. He really is a guy who makes everyone around him better. He’ll draw the slide. He’ll move it one more when it comes down. He’s a crunch time player. He wants the ball. He’s demanding, and he gets it done. People feed off his energy.”

“I’m very happy he is on our team,” long-stick midfielder Jesse Bernhardt said. “For a guy who puts up such highlight reel goals, he is a true team player. He puts up a ton of team points. He is always looking to distribute the ball. He knows himself. He knows he draws a lot of attention.”

Championship Weekend added more hardware for Thompson to add to his trophy case, winning the MLL Offensive Player of the Year award, MVP award, and MLL Championship. In the final, he scored two goals and added an assist, tying for the game-high in points.

For all the individual attention he received and success he enjoyed, it was being able to celebrate a victory with his team – which he said came together “as a family” – that was most important to him.

“At the end of the day, that’s the team effort. That’s the team goal,” he said about what the championship meant to him. “Me, personally, I try to stay in the moment every game I play, whether it’s a championship game and the game’s on the line or it’s midseason and it’s a blow-out. The opportunity to play is what I’m truly thankful for. It may sound a little silly to a lot of people, but a championship is no bigger than the next game or the last game. I try to live in the moment and enjoy the process, enjoy every day and this moment.”