Regional Digest
Bayhawks hire assistant coach
Chris Burdick was hired as the Chesapeake Bayhawks’ assistant coach and defensive coordinator. The Cortland, New York, native also was recently named head coach at Webber International University.
Burdick recently served as a volunteer assistant coach with the Bayhawks and has been helping the team throughout the 2019 Major League Lacrosse season.
Burdick’s promotion to defensive coordinator comes as Bob Shillinglaw (Severna Park) steps down from his duties as an assistant coach. Shillinglaw, who coached the defense in 2018 and throughout the season in 2019, leaves the team in order to spend time with his family.
Shillinglaw, prior to coaching Chesapeake, spent 39 seasons as a head coach at Delaware.
Flacco received CAA Offensive Player of the Year and All-America honors in 2018 after completing 269 of 439 passes for 3,251 yards and a school-record tying 28 touchdowns. He also rushed for a team-best 742 yards and four scores to rank third in FCS in total offense (332.8 ypg).
The 2018 America East finalists received 34 votes along with UMass Lowell. The coaches tabbed defending champion New Hampshire as the preseason favorite with 47 points and five of eight first-place selections. Last year’s regular season champions, the Stony Brook Seawolves, earned 40 points and the remaining three first-place votes to land in second position.
Defending champion Central Connecticut has been tabbed as the favorite, followed by Saint Francis U, Fairleigh Dickinson, Bryant, the Mount, Sacred Heart, Robert Morris, Long Island, Wagner, St. Francis Brooklyn and Merrimack.
Last season, the Mountaineers qualified for the NEC Tournament for the first time since 1997. The Mount earned the No. 3 seed at last year’s NEC Tournament with a 4-2-2 league record while finishing with a 5-9-3 overall mark.