Long Island Original, MLL Goals Leader Goettelmann Likely to Retire
by Corey McLaughlin | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
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All-time MLL goals leader Tim Goettelmann says his pending decision on retirement is "closer to yes." |
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Tim Goettelmann had the story
of his potential final season mapped out. And it had unfolded as
planned until the Long Island Lizards’ loss Sunday afternoon
to the Chesapeake Bayhawks in the Major League Lacrosse
championship game.
In his 10th and likely final MLL season, Goettelmann, the veteran
attackman from Loyola and last remaining original Long Island
Lizard, became the league’s all-time leading scorer, passing
Jesse Hubbard, in the Lizards’ final regular season home
game, as he hoped.
Then championship weekend arrived. The Lizards beat Denver for the
first time in eight tries and Chesapeake upset top-seeded Boston,
setting up a Lizards-Bayhawks final for the fifth time in the
10-year history of MLL. It was the same matchup as his and the
league’s first season. Long Island won that one.
It seemed as if God was in on having the story play out as
designed, Goettelmann said after Saturday’s semifinals, and
he looked forward to retiring as a champ. But after the Bayhawks
beat the Lizards, 13-9, Sunday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial
Stadium, he acknowledged, “I guess God predicted the Bayhawks
to win.”
Earlier in the season, Goettelmann said this season would be his
last, but recently said he was unsure. After Sunday's game, he said
he was probably retiring despite the loss.
“It’s closer to being yes,” said Goettelmann,
whose 251 career regular season goals are 24 more than the next
active player, Kevin Leveille. “We’ll see when it comes
around. I give credit to the Bayhawks. They did great, but
hopefully Long Island can come back. I don’t know if
I’m going to be a part of it.”
“We’ll see what my wife says, I guess,” said
Goettelmann, who has two young kids and another on the way with his
wife, Lisa. For his day job, he is an insurance broker in New
York.
It was close to ending how he wanted. The score Sunday was tied at
eight to start the fourth quarter, but Chesapeake went on a 4-0 run
to break the game open.
Brian Carroll started it with a man-up goal, the result of one of
seven Long Island Lizard penalties. Less than a minute later, Kyle
Dixon fired an on-the-run high shot past goalie Drew Adams. Michael
Kimmel then scored on a rebound to make it 11-8 with 9:34
remaining.
“It’s tough to swallow,” Goettelmann said.
“You gotta give credit to them. They got up on us three goals
... because of the penalties and Alex Smith did a good job on
faceoffs at the end. It was tough to catch up.”
Goettelmann was the last Lizard to leave the field and received a
postgame hug from Lizards coach Jim Mule before heading to the
locker room. “It is what it is,” Mule told him.
“We fought them.”
Then the 6-4, 215-pounder got a hug from a representative of the
other team, Bayhawks coaching consultant Dave Cottle,
Goettelmann’s college coach at Loyola.
“It was nice to be 32 years old and keep playing,”
Goettelmann said between the hugs. “I’ve been lucky
enough to keep playing lacrosse, which I love to do. I’m
happy.”
