Saturday evening the Georgia Swarm used a fourth quarter comeback to defeat the Vancouver Warriors 10-8 to stay unbeaten with a record of 3-0. Vancouver drops to a record of 1-3.
It was a very defensive game from the opening draw until the final whistle as both offenses looked sloppy at times. Mike Poulin’s excellent play between the pipes saved the game for Georgia as he was able to come up big, especially in the fourth when Georgia shut out Vancouver to secure the win.
Georgia would get off to a fast start with two early goals coming from Miles Thompson. With about four minutes to play in the first, Vancouver started to find themselves on offense as Jordan McBride and Keegan Bal scored back-to-back goals making it a 2-2 game. The rookie Brendan Bomberry recorded his first ever NLL goal late in the first to give Georgia a 3-2 lead heading into the second.
The second quarter was atrocious for Georgia as they couldn’t get anything going at either end of the floor. Vancouver took full advantage of Georgia’s lacklustre defense as they went on a four-goal run to take a 6-3 lead with 8:23 left in quarter. Lyle Thompson would get Georgia back on track late in the second as he put one past Aaron Bold to get the Swarm’s first goal of the second. Zed Williams would score for Georgia to end the second and cut it to a one goal 6-5 Vancouver lead heading into the half.
Brendan Bomberry tied things up at 6-6 early on in the third to give Georgia some momentum. Keegan Bal would return the favor and make it one goal 7-6 Vancouver lead midway through the third. After some very physical defensive possessions on both sides Logan Schuss would score on the power play to get Vancouver back out front by two. Miles Thompson would bury one in the net off a Vancouver turnover to make it a one goal game entering the fourth.
Down 8-7, Jordan MacIntosh and Brendan Bomberry would score two early goals to take the 9-8 lead. Georgia’s defense was superb in forcing Vancouver to take bad shots and causing turnovers. Lyle Thompson would take flight in transition with just over a minute left the game to put this one to rest and pull out the 10-8 win.
It may have seemed like Vancouver outplayed Georgia for most of the game but Georgia led in almost every statistical category. Georgia outshot Vancouver 47-40 while each team scooped up 73 loose balls. Georgia went 12-22 at the face-off dot with Jordan MacIntosh going 11-20 and Connor Sellars going 1-2. Each squad went 1-3 on the power play.
Jordan McBride and Keegan Bal each had five points (3G/2A) while Logan Schuss tallied three points (1G/2A) to lead Vancouver on offense. On defense Vancouver was led by Matt Beers and Justin Salt. Beers picked up nine loose balls and had one caused turnover while Salt scooped two loose balls and caused two turnovers.
Lyle Thompson had four points (2G/2A) while Miles Thompson and Brendan Bomberry each had a hat trick to lead Georgia’s offense. Bomberry picked up his first NLL goal and first ever hat trick in the game. On defense Connor Sellars scooped up six loose balls and caused three turnovers.
In net for Vancouver, Aaron Bold made 37 saves on 47 shots on goal. For Georgia, Mike Poulin made 32 saves on 40 shots.
Georgia’s next game will be on January 12th at Philadelphia and Vancouver’s next game is a home contest against Saskatchewan on January 12th.
