Saturday, February 12th featured four NLL games with home-floor advantage working for three teams. The Georgia Swarm, Rochester Knighthawks and Toronto Rock were all victorious over their visitors. The Panther City Lacrosse Club wasn’t as fortunate, falling to the San Diego Seals 10-4.
Read about the Rock’s win over the Bandits here.
New York Riptide 11 @ Georgia Swarm 13
The Riptide were in tough against the Swarm on Native American Heritage Night. Bolstered by a warmup in which they wore shirts designed by Lyle Thompson himself, the Swarm never trailed, though the Riptide didn’t roll over easily. Thompson and Brendan Bomberry each had a pair of goals in the first half to stake the Swarm to a 6-3 lead.
Shayne Jackson popped in a second-half hat trick, Bomberry scored again for a hat trick, and Thompson scored twice more to lead with four goals in addition to three assists. Jake Fox, Callum Crawford and Jeff Teat each had a pair of goals for New York in the second half, in which the Riptide actually outscored the Swarm by a single goal.
Mike Poulin made 42 saves for the win, while Steve Orleman made 36 saves in the losing effort.
Two highlights for the Riptide was Dan MacRae’s 800th career loose ball scoop and Kieran McArdle’s 100th career assist.
The Swarm are still sixth in the East and out of a playoff spot, while the Riptide continue to occupy last place with just one win.
Albany FireWolves 13 @ Rochester Knighthawks 15
A 10-point game from Shawn Evans propelled the Knighthawks to their third win of the season. With nine assists, the ball was always in his stick. In fact, all of Rochester’s big guns were firing: Holden Cattoni 4G/1A, Turner Evans 2G/3A, Ryan Smith 3G/1A and Thomas Hoggarth 3G.
Rochester jumped out to an early 6-2 advantage and never surrendered the lead. Albany scored seven goals in the fourth quarter, but the Knighthawks were able to best the FireWolves for the second time on the season.
Joe Resetarits continued his hot streak for the FireWolves with another 10 points after scoring 19 the week before.
Rylan Hartley was phenomenal in goal again, making 35 saves. Doug Jamieson took the L with 30 saves.
San Diego Seals 10 @ Panther City Lacrosse Club 4
It was first vs. worst in Fort Worth with the San Diego Seals affirming their dominance at 6-1 at the top of the West standings over the Panther City Lacrosse Club, who sit last at 1-7.
The game was tied at three at halftime but Panther City fell apart in the third, allowing the Seals a 5-0 run.
Forward Mike Triolo led the Panther City attack with two goals, while forward Will Malcom tallied a goal and two assists to lead the team with three points. Goalie Nick Damude stopped 34 of 44 San Diego shots, while defensemen Matt Hossack cleaned up nine loose balls, leading all players.
San Diego’s attack was headed by forward Wesley Berg, who dished out three assists and found the back of the net three times to lead all scorers with six points. Tre Leclaire and Austin Staats each scored twice and added two assists. Frankie Scigliano made 29 saves in the win.
