The Georgia Swarm took down divisional foe New York Riptide 14-9 on Saturday night to even up the season series and get revenge for last month’s loss to the Riptide on Long Island.
Down in Georgia this time around, the Swarm were buzzin’ the whole game.
Tyler Digby got New York on the board first in the opening minutes of the contest, but the defense quickly set in on both ends. However, Zed Williams was able to get two straight goals past Alex Buque to make it a 2-1 Georgia lead heading into the second.
Jordan Hall and Zach Miller each found the back of the net within the first minute and change in the second, putting Georgia ahead 4-1. And while Tyler Digby was able to stop the bleeding for New York a bit, the Swarm started to really heat up.
Georgia ended the second quarter on a 7-1 run that saw seven different goal scorers for the Swarm. That huge run was able to push them ahead 11-3 and give them a ton of momentum heading into the half.
“First half, I thought we were really good, and we had a lot of good looks… Just moving our feet, moving the ball, that’s our success, and that’s going to continue to be our success,” Swam head coach Ed Comeau said in a press release.
After pulling Buque midway through the second, New York stuck with Gowah Abrams in the second half. And the move in goal did seem to help out the New York defense a bit as they only allowed one Georgia goal in the entire third quarter.
Heading into the fourth, Georgia held a 12-6 lead but New York was in the midst of a three-goal run that spanned from late in the third through early in the fourth. Dan Lomas scored two of the three goals during the New York run.
Randy Staats stopped the New York run, putting Georgia back up by six midway through the fourth, but Connor Kelly was able to answer right back for the Riptide. And while New York was able to gain some momentum down the stretch, some stellar play in goal from Mike Poulin and a Lyle Thompson goal put this one out of reach as Georgia walked away with the 14-9 victory.
Georgia was led by Lyle Thompson with three goals and Shayne Jackson with six assists. This marked the first game this season in which Jackson did not score a hat trick. Connor Kelly and Dan Lomas led New York with (2G/3A) each.
Mike Poulin made 33 saves on 42 shots on goal for Georgia and Gowah Abrams, who played the majority of minutes for New York, made 18 saves on 25 shots on goal.
