After the win last week, the Bayhawks continued rolling Saturday night in Annapolis, as the Long Island Lizards were in town on our nation's birthday. Washington gained its third win of the season last week and is showing increasing signs of improvement. Long Island had the week off but came into game with a 4-2 record.

The two teams faced off on the Island in week two. The game went into overtime, with Washington's Kevin Huntley playing the hero and ending it the extra time period. Tonight the big impact player was Chris Garrity, as the Bayhawks began their push for the final playoff spot.

The Bud Light Game MVP went to net-minder Garrity. With 20 shots on goal, the long time MLL warrior made 13 saves in a spectacular performance leading to a season high .650 save percentage. Garrity allowed only 7 goals on the night. The last time he allowed 7 or fewer goals was June 29, 2006 when he saved all but 5 in 47 minutes of play while with the Boston Cannons.

Long Island started off strong with 2 goals from Stephen Peyser and a Zack Greer goal, but Washington refused to be put down. Rookie PT Ricci hit the first score for the Bayhawks followed by tallies from Ben Rubeor and Jed Prossner. Ricci was the 11th pick in this year's collegiate draft. Chris Fiore had the only assist in the first period on Peyser's second goal. Fiore was quiet for the rest of the game. The two teams left it tied at the end of the first at 3.

There was little action in the second quarter. Stephen Berger had the first goal with the assist from Matt Danowski at 1:18 into the period. After a Long Island penalty, Washington's Kyle Dixon had a 2-point power-play goal putting the Bayhawks up by 1.

Washington saw an explosion of offense in the third quarter; 5 straight goals from the Bayhawks to open the second half. Midfielder, and Annapolis native Ben Hunt, netted the first one, unassisted, 44 seconds into the half. Jake Byrne had the next goal, a power-play goal, assisted by Dixon. Kevin Huntley took control for a bit with 3 goals in a row, including one assist by Hunt. The attack was finally stymied by a Danowski power-play goal, the final score of the period, leaving the Lizards down 10 – 5.

The deficit proved too much for the Lizards. The fourth opened up with three more Washington goals. Finally, Tim Goettelmann responded for Long Island with 2 goals to end the game. The final score, 14-7, was a convincing win for the Bayhawks.

On the winning side, Alex Smith took 14 of 23 face-offs, and held on to 5 ground balls. The third year veteran has a .609 career face-off win percentage. With 3 goals, Prossner tied a season high 3 points on the night. He added 2 of the 3 goals in the 4th quarter run for Washington. Dixon had his 7th 2-pointer of the year, making 14 for his career. In 5 of his last 6 games Dixon has had at least one goal from behind the arc.

Putting the rest of the scorers to shame however, was last week's Bud Light Game MVP, Kevin Huntley. The former Hopkins Blue Jay tied a season highs 4 goals, and 5 points. The last time Huntley was held scoreless was July 26, 2008. Most impressive were the 3 consecutive scores helping to compile a 6 goal run by the Bayhawks in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

Only 2 players had 2 goals for the Lizards. Goettelmann had back to back scores to end the game, and Peyser had back to back goals to start the game. Matt Danowski had a goal and an assist. Berger and Greer both had one goal. Finishing off point scoring for Long Island, Keith Cromwell and Chris Fiore both had an assist. In the face-off circle, Peter Vlahakis could not compete with league leader Alex Smith. Vlahakis only took 9 of the 23 face-off battles.

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2009-07-05