Nationals Looking For Revenge Against Bayhawks

On May 19th, the Chesapeake Bayhawks won their second straight game to open the season. They beat the Hamilton Nationals with a strong first half performance and they were able to contain John Grant Jr (he did manage to get three assists though). After that solid opening, the Bayhawks dropped a big game against the Boston Cannons and their silver lining seemed to just be a mirage. Alas, all hope was not lost when the Hawks gave the Denver Outlaws their first loss 16-15 in an overtime thriller.

Now that the Bayhawks (4-3) and Nationals (4-3) are getting a chance to battle once again, don't expect an exact copy of the previous game. One of the most glaring changes will be the absence of Grant in a Nationals jersey. The Bayhawks exerted a great deal of defensive pressure to stop him from being the prolific scorer that he is. Jeremy Boltus and Jordan Hall both contributed two goals for the Nats while Garrett Billings netted a hat trick. These other players stepping up proved to be insufficient to equalize Danny Glading and Michael Kimmel's seven total goals. Without Grant being on the Nats attack, look to see Chesapeake shift some double teams over to Joe Walters who has been dominating lately. Also, make sure to keep an eye on Jeremy Boltus who did score seven goals a couple games ago and is a dangerous scorer.

If Hamilton wants to win this game, they must exploit the Bayhawks weakness in their transition. Hamilton has good goalies to cover the net and Brodie Merrill being as solid as a rock back on D. If they can get the stop (they only allowed 9 goals last weekend against Long Island), then look for some quick ball movement to their talented middies. On the other end of transition, I expect Chesapeake to be playing a little bit better with Matt Abbott taking a more assertive role when it comes to advancing the ball wisely. 

I think that the winner of this game will come down to whoever can control the middle the best, whether this means stopping the transition or feeding the ball up to the attackers. This will be a great game to watch and you can catch it on ESPN3.com at 7pm eastern tomorrow (Saturday, July 16th).