Cannons in final after MLL player tests positive for COVID-19

After Saturday's semifinals were forfeited, the Boston Cannons will play Denver for the MLL title on Sunday. (MLL photos)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Major League Lacrosse canceled Saturday’s scheduled semifinals after a league player tested positive for COVID-19 following Friday’s play.

The Boston Cannons (3-2) were supposed to play the Denver Outlaws (4-1) at 1 p.m., followed by the Connecticut Hammerheads (3-2) facing the defending champion Chesapeake Bayhawks (3-2) at 4 p.m. Those times were bumped back to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. earlier on Saturday.

A little after 4 p.m., MLL said the Hammerheads and Bayhawks forfeited their semifinals, each team making the decision independently. The Cannons play Denver for the championship on Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN).

The sequence began on Friday evening, when a player in the league approached a member of his team’s medical staff with potential symptoms of COVID-19. He was immediately placed into a full quarantine and tested. Within a few hours it was determined that he had tested positive for the virus.

Following the protocol, developed with a team of leading physicians before the start of the season, MLL immediately placed all players into quarantine. On Saturday morning, MLL tested all individuals who, through contact tracing, were determined to be at risk for COVID-19.

“The most important priority is the health and wellness of our players,” said MLL commissioner Sandy Brown. “We have been prepared, thorough and measured in our response and have followed league protocol. It is thanks to our medical and COVID teams that we have had a rapid and exhaustive response. We look forward to taking the field tomorrow and rounding out our 20th anniversary season.”

The first-year Hammerheads had been one of the feelgood stories in Annapolis, winning three games after opening 0-2.

The Cannons handed Denver their only loss, 10-8, on Friday night.

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