Toronto week 12 preview

8/1/10 7:00 AM

Toronto week 12 preview

Redmond Zmudzien

After falling 16-11 to the Long Island Lizards (6-5) last week, the Toronto Nationals (3-8) were officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Nationals battled all season and it was impressive they still made it to Week 11 before getting knocked out of the playoff hunt. Starting the season 0-5 ended up badly hurting their chances of returning to Championship Weekend, but a 3-0 run after that put the Nationals right back in the hunt. However, a 0-3 skid after that ultimately put Toronto in a tough position, which was to win out or go home. The 0-3 run in the last three games was highlighted by a heartbreaking 15-14 overtime loss to Denver and a contest against Boston featuring mostly backups and fill-ins as most of Toronto’s roster was overseas playing in the FIL World Championship.

Now sitting at 3-8, officially eliminated from the postseason and sitting in last place, the question is how will the Nationals come out this weekend against the Lizards? The Nationals don’t have much to gain from this game, other than potentially playing spoiler to the Lizards’ playoff berth. If both Toronto and Chesapeake win, then the Lizards would fall from the No. 3 seed to the No. 4 seed, which would mean having to play first place Boston in the opening game of the semi-finals. After dropping their eighth game of the season the Nationals were somber in the locker room as they realized they wouldn’t have the opportunity to repeat as MLL champions.

“We didn’t break out the champagne [after the loss],” said Toronto head coach Dave Huntley. “Credit Long Island with playing a very good game and beating us in the last three quarters.”

Another aspect of this weekend’s game to look forward to is perhaps getting a look at some of the Nationals’ impact players for next season. Rookies like goalie Scott Rodgers and longpole Steven Waldeck have stood out from the rest in a solid 2010 draft class. However, don’t expect the B team to be on the field in the finale, Huntley said fans will just have to wait till next season to see any fringe players try to make the team.

“Our lineup has changed every week and this week will be no different,” Huntley said. “Tryouts happen in April.”

While Toronto will not return to the playoffs, which comes as a disappointment for the defending champions, Huntley said it will only benefit his team in the future.

“We did not make the playoffs. We are disappointed and we will learn from it and be better going forward,” he said.

The Nationals do however still have one game left on the schedule and it is against the Long Island Lizards once again. After having records fall, both individual and team, last weekend the Nationals will be playing for pride this time around. Veteran attackman Tim Goettelmann set the MLL all-time goals scored record against the Nationals as Long Island pulled away in the final quarter.

Fellow Lizards attackman Matt Danowski had a huge night for Long Island, notching three goals and five assists for eight points on the night. Danowski is sitting at second in the league in scoring with 45 points and will be gunning for the scoring title this Saturday. He is only four points behind Boston attackman Matt Poskay who leads the league with 49 points. So it will take an ambitious effort from Danowski on Saturday if he hopes to take the league scoring title.

The two sides close out the season this Saturday Aug. 7 as the Nationals play host to the Lizards. Toronto will be looking to finish out the season strong and go into the offseason on a positive note, while the Lizards will be making their final adjustments and tweaks before making a run at the Steinfeld Cup at Championship Weekend. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. The Major League Lacrosse Web site will be running a live blog and chat for the game starting 15 minutes prior to faceoff. This game can be seen live on ESPN3 and TSN 2. It can also be seen Sunday Aug. 8 at 2 p.m. on Universal Sports, at 2.30 p.m. on Brighthouse and at 3 p.m. on Cox Sports New Orleans.

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