Josh Byrne made quite an impression during his initial practice with the Chesapeake Bayhawks on June 1. In fact, after seeing the rookie attackman in-person for the first time, head coach Brian Reese was regretting not activating him for the following night’s game against the Ohio Machine.

“We saw something special in Josh that very first night. He brought some excitement and charisma to the field,” Reese said. “He showed tremendous stick skills and an ability to score in a variety of ways.”

A video from that practice was posted to the team’s website and shows Byrne using a difficult back-handed flip to hit the top corner of the cage from about 12 yards away. The former Hofstra standout did more of the same in his Major League Lacrosse debut Saturday night.

Byrne exploded for seven goals to lead a big comeback by Chesapeake in an eventual 17-16 loss to the Rochester Rattlers. The left-handed Canadian was named MLL Rookie of the Week in recognition of the performance, which showcased his versatility.

“I really liked that Josh scored in a bunch of different ways. He got goals by cutting and dodging, man up and six-on-six, right-handed and left-handed,” Reese said. “What we saw was that Josh is very good off-ball. He has a real knack for getting open.”

Reese related that Byrne told him afterward that he should have scored nine or 10 goals and was upset at not finishing a few good opportunities.

“You don’t ever expect to come in and score that many goals in your first game,” Byrne said this week. “You have those kind of games when everything works out perfectly. If you look at the highlights, there were a couple goals when I was wide open.”

Indeed, Byrne scored two goals from the doorstep and one-on-one with the goalie after getting behind the defense. One came off a feed by long stick midfielder C.J. Costabile during an unsettled situation while the other came when Rochester faceoff specialist Drew Simoneau accidentally threw a pass to Byrne while trying to give the ball back to his defense.

General manager Dave Cottle felt he had gotten a steal when Chesapeake chose Byrne in the third round of the MLL Collegiate Draft late last month. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder was named a third team All-American after leading Hofstra with 66 points (41 goals, 25 assists) as a senior. He totaled 111 points in two seasons with the Pride after transferring from nearby Nassau Community College.

“I thought Josh Byrne was the sleeper of the draft. I went to see him play in CAA Tournament and was very impressed,” Cottle said. “Josh plays so freaking hard. He is a big, strong lefty who is extremely skilled. He reminds me a lot of Mark Matthews.”

Matthews was a prolific scorer at the University of Denver and is now plying his trade with the Saskatchewan Rush of the National Lacrosse League and Atlanta Blaze of MLL.

“I grew up watching Mark Matthews highlights. He was the first field player to start throwing box lacrosse fakes, doing toe drags and other crazy stuff,” Byrne said. “I feel very blessed to be mentioned in the same sentence as Mark Matthews. I guess the comparison is that I’m a big lefty like him.”

Byrne got to play alongside another one of great indoor players he grew up idolizing as a kid in New Westminster, British Columbia. Shawn Evans, who has amassed more than 1,000 points during his indoor professional career, used a tremendous move from behind the net to set up Byrne for one of several goals he got from cutting to the crease.

“Shawn Evans is an unreal talent. On that play, he put the ball right on my stick and it was like a tap-in goal,” Byrne said. “Obviously, when you’re playing with superstars like Shawn Evans and Matt Danowski, it makes life a lot easier. From here on out, there will probably be a better scouting report and I’ll get a little more defensive attention.”

That is exactly what Reese is hoping in the wake of Byrne’s scoring spree, which produced the second-highest goal output by a rookie in MLL history.

“Do we expect Josh to score seven goals every game? Of course not,” Reese said. “However, Josh has shown he can put the ball in the cage if left open so that gives us another weapon that opponents have to account for, which will open up things for others on offense.”

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