The New York Riptide defeated the Georgia Swarm to secure a 13-12 home victory at NYCB Live on Saturday night. It was their first win franchise history. New York was able to get a fast break opportunity where Ryan Fournier found Dan MacRae open down the floor 2:10 into the extra period.
The game also marked the first time that Georgia has lost more than two games in a row since 2016.
Jordan Hall broke the ice midway through the first to get Georgia on the board first and Scott Johnston got New York’s offense going just a few seconds later. While the rest of the first quarter was highlighted by some impressive goalie play on both ends, Kieran McArdle was able to score late in the quarter to give the Riptide a 2-1 lead heading into the second.
New York’s lead grew fairly quickly in the second with McArdle scoring once again. However, a Zach Miller goal in transition was the spark that Georgia needed to get their offensive juices flowing once again. The Swarm scored seven consecutive goals from midway through the second through midway in the third.
The run helped Georgia take a 5-3 lead at the half, get ahead 8-3 in the third, and ended with a natural hat trick from Shayne Jackson.
New York was finally able to stop the bleeding with Tyson Gibson scoring two straight just minutes after Jackson’s third. Zed Williams scored at the buzzer to push Georgia ahead 9-5 entering the fourth.
While the majority of the game had been defense heavy and things looked to be going Georgia’s way, all that changed in the fourth.
Jean-Luc Chetner scored for New York just 22 seconds into the quarter and Lyle Thompson answered back a few minutes later for Georgia. However, New York turned it up a notch and rambled off five consecutive goals, including three from Dan Lomas, from early through the midway point in the quarter to go ahead 11-10 with about five minutes in the game.
Lyle Thompson scored two consecutive goals seconds apart to put Georgia back in the drivers seat 12-11. However, New York was able to force a turnover with just seconds left in regulation and Gale Thorpe sent a rocket right past Mike Poulin to force overtime.
In the overtime period, each team got a shot in the first minute and change until MacRae ripped one from the outside to secure the 13-12 victory.
New York was led by Lomas with five points (3G/2A) while McArdle had three goals. Travis Longboat had six assists and Tyler Digby five.
Georgia was led by Shayne Jackson with six points (3G/3A). Lyle Thompson also had four goals and Randy Staats dished out nine assists.
Mike Poulin made 35 saves off of 47 shots on goal for Georgia and Alex Buque made 37 saves off of 49 shots on goal for New York.
The Riptide will try to keep the momentum going on Friday when they visit Philadelphia. Georgia will look to get back on track when they visit New England on Sunday.
