New York Lizards midfielder Nicky Galasso has spent most of the summer taking shots in his brother’s backyard. His off-time consists of watching golf on the couch and chatting with his teammates in group chats, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To say Galasso and the other Major League Lacrosse players are looking forward to opening day is an understatement.
“We want to get out there already,” Galasso said.
A slight return to ‘normalcy’ will return to the field when the MLL 20th Anniversary season opens on Saturday, July 18th– even if the setting is an eight-day season with every game played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, M.D. in front of no fans.
While there is no denying how unconventional it is, the six teams are focused on hoisting the Steinfeld Trophy next Sunday. The Lizards are no different as they try turning their fortunes around.
New York finished last with a 5-11 record in 2019. However, the team defeated the eventual-champion Chesapeake Bayhawks in July and won two of its last three games. Lizards head coach BJ O’Hara believes his team can carry that momentum into the new season.
“I’m excited,” O’Hara said. “We are preparing gameplans and all those things you do at the beginning of a regular season, it is a little bit condensed now, but we’ll be ready.”
The team will see some different leaders step up on both sides of the field, compared to 2019. Dylan Molloy will likely run much of the Lizards’ offense, following Rob Pannell‘s departure to the PLL’s Atlas club. Pannell led the team scoring 33 goals, recording 29 assists and earning 63 points last season, but Molloy was right behind him and earned 42 points.
“Dylan Molloy is one of the best lacrosse players in the world,” O’Hara said. “The thing about him is he is so strong and powerful and draws attention to him. But, the thing about his game is he’ll get to the goal when he can, but if he is getting doubled, he is really good at getting the ball to the open man.”
The 2016 Tewaaraton Award winner will join Brendan Kearns as the Lizards two returning attackmen. Kearns earned 17 points including 13 goals last year. They will be accompanied by rookie Andrew Pettit from Lehigh and Connor O’Hara— reuniting with his father, BJ, once again.
Connor spent last season with the Boston Cannons and scored 28 goals, earning nine against his dad’s team. The younger O’Hara played under his father growing up and on the championship-winning Denver Outlaws in 2018.
“I think he fits in well with some of our pieces,” the head coach said. “He is an off ball guy– he does not need the ball to initiate plays off our guys. We got guys who are real good at throwing the slide and finding the open man.”
One midfielder expected to slide in to a more prominent role is Galasso. The West Islip native only appeared in ten games in 2019, but scored 13 goals and dished three assists. With Kevin Crowley joining the Philadelphia Barrage over the offseason, Long Island’s all-time high school points leader says his offensive role will increase.
“I think I see myself with the ball in my stick a little bit more, kind of dodging and creating offensive slides and being a passer. That is how I was in the beginning of my high school career and college career– I was an attack-end. I was a feeder first mentality.”
Galasso will be accompanied by Nick Aponte and Justin Reh, two midfielders known for their playmaking ability. Reh finished third with 29 points and 14 assists for New York while Aponte was among the top five team-leaders with 24 points and 17 goals scored.
With a shortened season and no lone offensive threat, Galasso believes the all-around attack will play to New York’s strengths.
“I don’t really see it being one person that is going to fill that void. We have great all-around players offensively, our whole offense is geared to playing as a team. It’s not going to be one of those teams with a guy that scores a bunch of goals, it is going to be a team effort.”
The defensive side won’t see as many changes. Ben Randall, Jack Carrigan and Alex Spring will remain the team’s primary defenders, according to Coach O’Hara. Spring led New York’s long-stick midfielders by scooping 53 groundballs last year. Carrigan led the defensemen with 44 groundballs gathered.
“Ben is probably one of the most shutdown defenders in the league,” O’Hara said. “Generally, he will take the opponent’s top attackman in every game. Alex really came on for us last year and I’ve been looking to him a lot as a leader. Jack is a really smart player.”
New York increased its defensive depth with a couple of fresh faces. Mike Mayer will join after spending time at the United States Naval Academy Prep School. He was an Inside Lacrosse Preseason Honorable Mention All-American in 2016 playing close defense for Georgetown.
Bobby Duvnjak will make his pro debut after the Lizards picked him up in the 2018 Supplemental Draft. He was a two-time All-Ivy League and All NEILA First Team honoree at Harvard.
Two faceoff specialists will make the trip to Maryland. However, there is only one year of pro experience between Mark Andrejack and Andrew Bracy. Andrejack was the second string behind Greg Puskuldjian— who joined the PLL’s Redwoods club this offseason. Coach O’Hara believes Andrejack will improve upon the .402 winning percentage he finished with as a rookie.
“He is very capable and has been working hard. Last year, he was kind of an understudy and really improved a lot over the course of the season. [He] got more confident– the techniques they use in the pro game is different from the college game and it takes a little while to get use to that. We are excited Mark will be our top guy and we will use him as much as we can.”
New York will be the only team carrying three goalkeepers on its 25-man roster. Coach O’Hara cited that the short turnaround in games impacted his decision.
“We are going to need that depth there playing that many games in a short time, they are going to get some rubber. I felt it was in our best interest to forego one other guy and take a third goalie.”
O’Hara indicated Austin Kaut will remain the Lizards primary goaltender. The keeper had the lowest save-percentage among the six-most active goalkeepers in 2019, but was third among them with 188 saves. He also finished last season with a career-best average of 13.3 goals per game allowed.
Brian Corrigan, Danny Dolan and Kaut combined for 197 saves last year. O’Hara noted deciding who will start in-between the pipes will be judged on a ‘day-by-day basis.’
The Lizards will open their season against the defensively-strong Cannons on Saturday then the defending-champion Bayhawks Sunday afternoon. They will close on a three-game stretch starting on Wednesday, July 22nd. O’Hara believes coming in prepared will be key for winning the championship.
“I hope that the guys are returning learned from their experience last year and are focused and prepared, I am confident they have. Some of the new guys give you that little bit extra to get over that top. In every pro sport, especially lacrosse, the difference between winning and losing is ever so slight. We are hoping we can get the pieces together to get us over the top.”
2020 New York Lizards Schedule
Saturday, July 18th: at Boston Cannons- 4 P.M. EST
Sunday, July 19th: vs Chesapeake Bayhawks- 1 P.M. EST
Tuesday, July 21st: vs Denver Outlaws- 7 P.M. EST
Wednesday, July 22nd: vs Connecticut Hammerheads- 4 P.M. EST
Thursday, July 23rd: at Philadelphia Barrage- 4 P.M. EST
To find out how you can watch Major League Lacrosse, click here
