Goettelmann helps Lizards win, head to MLL playoffs

On a night when it seemed like the Lizards offense was unstoppable, the one guy left out of the mix early on was Tim Goettelmann. Goettelmann was two goals shy of tying the MLL career scoring record coming into the game, but had only an assist heading into the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter.

Then, with the Lizards, nearly coughing up a seven-point lead, Goettelmann scored three straight goals to lead Long Island to a 16-11 win over defending champion Toronto at Shuart Stadium Saturday. Goettelmann now has 248 career goals, 18 this season.

"They were really moving on defense and I was trying to get my isolations and they weren't really happening," Goettelmann said. "The fourth quarter, those three goals, I got underneath them and they were playing up."

The victory knocks Toronto out of playoff contention and punches the Lizards' postseason ticket to the tournament in Annapolis, Maryland. The two-time champion Lizards, who haven't won a title since 2003, play at Toronto in their final game of the year on August 7.

"He's probably a little nervous," coach Jim Mule said of Goettelmann before the game.

The Lizards needed to win one of these last two games to make the playoffs.

"I got butterflies before the game," Goettelmann said. "I haven't had butterflies in awhile. It's a storybook ending. This team has won four straight, we're rattling off wins. And hopefully we can keep this momentum."

Easing the pressure was Stephen Berger's four goals, Matt Danowski's three goals and five assists and Goettelmann's three goals and two assists.

Garrett Billings had four goals for Toronto, including his own natural hat trick, scoring twice at the end of the third quarter (2:34, 2:06) and once to open the fourth (13:10) to draw Toronto within four goals.

Berger scored three consecutive goals (6:00, 4:32, 2:40) to give the Lizards a 6-4 lead in the second quarter, and that lead climbed to 12-5 with 5:20 left in the third quarter. But Toronto went on a 5-1 run to close the gap to just three goals before Goettelmann's historic shots.

Peter Vlahakis was 5-for-13 in faceoffs, giving him 1,000 wins for his career.