UNIONDALE, NY - It was a big night for Major League Lacrosse, It was a big night for the Long Island Lizards, but most of all it was a big night for midfielder Steven Berger.

Berger scored five goals as the Lizards netted a 16-12 victory against the visiting Boston Cannons on Friday in the first ever nationally televised MLL game.

The midfielder’s attack began immediately as 57 seconds into the game Berger dove across the front of Cannons goalie Jake Coon and launched a shot past him. He would then add another goal later in the first quarter as the teams battled to a stalemate of 4-4.

The Lizards struggled defensively in the first half; allowing nine goals on only nine shots. Part of the trouble stemmed from Lizards starting goalie being out of action for the entire first half.

Nick Murtha was injured during a 3-on-2 drill in practice on Thursday when a ball hit his facemask and ripped open a cut on his chin. The injury may have been due to the fact he was wearing a special helmet containing a camera for the television broadcast.

The team’s equipment manager spent most of the pre-game and first half attempting to find a way for Murtha to play without opening the stitches.

Joe Canuso started in Murtha’s place and struggled, failing to make a single save.

“We were badgering him,” said coach Jim Mule of his Murtha’s availability for the second half. “We needed a spark defensively and he said he would give it a shot.”

Murtha would indeed be that spark. He stopped 16 of 19 shots he faced in the second half.

After the Lizards were flagged for three penalties in the first half, the team seemed hesitant to hit in the remainder of the first half. Mule was not concerned about his team committing penalties and would rather see his team physically best Boston.

“If you want to play a physical style, you’re going to get penalties,” said Mule after the game. “You want them to be at the right time. You don’t want to take a penalty in a one goal game. Not in the offensive end, but there are “good” penalties and we want to play a physical style.”

The Lizards came out much more aggressively on defense after halftime, highlighted by a third quarter in which the team allowed only one goal and only two more in the fourth.

Long Island also played excellent defense in the Boston zone, not allowing the Cannons defensemen to get the ball up to the midfield. This led to several easy second half goals for Long Island.

“I thought we played better as a team,” said Mule to reporters. “Defensively, in the first half we were giving them too easy of looks, and they were beating us in the midfield. When we settled in, we made an adjustment at halftime to change our defensive slides. Instead of forcing them down the sides, we wanted to force them into the middle of our defense and I think that made a big difference.”

Long Island would take the lead for good in the third quarter with a 15:48 stretch where the Lizards scored four goals, while not allowing the Cannons to add to their total.

Attack Keith Cromwell notched his first goal of the season 5:03 into the third quarter to put Long Island up 11-10.

The atmosphere at the game was one of excitement from all parties involved as the game was broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

“It was awesome,” said Berger. “I was telling everyone to watch the game and it’s great for the sport, to get it out there, and get the word out there. I think to have a live game like that is really going to grow the sport.”

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