Dan Burns (#4) and Brian Farrell
Major League Lacrosse legend Casey Powell made a spectacular season debut, totaling four points on three goals and an assist to lead the Chesapeake Bayhawks to a thrilling 13-12 overtime victory over the Boston Cannons at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Attackman Drew Westervelt scored the game-winning goal at the 6:46 mark of the extra session for Chesapeake (7-4), which has won three straight games. Westervelt took a pass from midfielder Ben Hunt and whipped a sidearm shot into the net to give the Bayhawks their second straight one-goal win.
“It was frustrating shooting tonight because I just wasn’t hitting the cage,” said Westervelt, a five-time All-Star selection. “Hunt gave me a great one more (pass), but the defenseman was in my shooting lane. I kind of took a step to the side and shot it right off his body.”
Attackman Ben Rubeor scored three goals and assisted another for Chesapeake, which holds sole possession of third place in the MLL standings and owns the tiebreaker over second place Hamilton and fourth place Boston. AttackmanJohn Grant Jr. totaled two goals and an assist for the Bayhawks, who had suffered three overtime losses previously this season.
Powell made his Bayhawks’ debut and showed he hasn’t lost a step despite playing just five regular season games since 2009. Powell, the league’s all-time leading scorer with 403 career points, forced the overtime period with an incredible individual move.
Trailing 12-11 with time winding down, the Bayhawks got the ball back when rookie defenseman Jesse Bernhardtintercepted a pass. Following a timeout, head coach Dave Cottle put the ball in the stick of Powell. Flags flew as Boston defensemanBrian Farrell used an illegal body check to knock Powell to the ground.
Remarkably, Powell did a barrel roll without losing possession of the ball then regained his footing and drove aggressively to the goal. A defenseman and the goalie closed on Powell, who hearkened back to his Syracuse University days by diving headlong to the front of the cage and flipping a shot into the empty net to tie the score.
“I saw out of the corner of my eye that I drew a penalty, but I knew there was under 10 seconds so we probably wouldn’t be able to get a great shot off on man up,” Powell said. “I was able to hang onto the ball when I rolled. When I popped up, I didn’t see anyone there so I went to the goal and turned the corner. I didn’t see the ball go in, but I heard that it trickled into the corner.”
Cottle Post Game Memo-66
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