Dave Cottle doesn't mince words.
In the same conference call Wednesday in which he declared that the Chesapeake Bayhawks were "not afraid" of the Major League Lacrosse-leading Denver Outlaws, the Chesapeake Bayhawks coach colorfully described his thoughts on the Charlotte Hounds' three-game winning streak heading into Saturday's regular-season finale at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.
"I don't care about Charlotte's momentum. That means nothing to me," Cottle said. "We're more worried about Chesapeake's momentum. We think we're starting to play better. No disrespect intended, but Charlotte's momentum, we don't give two hoots about that. We're only concerned with Chesapeake's momentum."
That might sound like bravado, but what else would you expect the coach of the reigning MLL champion to say? Cottle has been nothing but vocal about his faith in his players, who responded to a 14-12 loss to Denver with a convincing 12-8 victory over the Rochester Rattlers last Saturday. The win clinched a spot in the four-team playoff bracket on Aug. 24-25 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa.
The Bayhawks (8-5) have won four of their last five games and appeared to be a different team with long-stick midfielder Mike Simon (Stevenson, Fallston) and short-stick defensive midfielder Jeff Reynolds (Maryland, Calvert Hall) creating transition and midfielder Matt Abbott playing both ends of the field adeptly.
But the Hounds (7-6) may be running just as hot. They have not lost since July 6, when the Boston Cannons prevailed, 17-16, in overtime, and they cemented a berth in the postseason last Saturday with a 14-11 upset of the Hamilton Nationals.
Charlotte coach Mike Cerino likes what he has seen from his players, but he also understands that the playoffs are a different animal.
"Obviously, you want to be playing well at the end of the year, and I think we are playing some of our best lacrosse," he said. "With that being said, this will be the second week in a row that we'll be playing a team that knows that it's in the playoffs. So we're playing a quality opponent. It's someone that maybe we've even built ourselves to look like a little bit as far as how we use our defensive midfielders and how we kind of play the game a little. So Chesapeake is a good matchup for us this week, but it's also a great test to kind of see where we are going into the playoffs. Momentum is a hot goalie and a hot faceoff guy moving forward. So if we have those things in the playoffs and we're healthy and we're playing well, I think that's the kind of momentum that we'll need in the future."