After a decisive victory over the New York Riptide a week ago, the Saskatchewan Rush appeared to be gaining momentum while slowly climbing into the playoff picture. But that momentum was lost this past weekend when they lost a rematch with the Riptide 14-11 on Saturday, then lost to the Georgia Swarm 8-7 on Sunday.
The pair of losses drops the Rush from ninth place in the NLL to 11th, with a 5-8 record. Meanwhile, the Riptide improved to 7-8 and eighth place; the Swarm improved to 9-7 and now sit in fourth place in the league.
In Saturday’s tilt, New York and Saskatchewan exchanged goals over the first 10 minutes, with the Riptide sniping two goals late in the first quarter to grab the lead. The Rush earned the first goal of the second quarter to reduce the lead to a single goal, but the Riptide responded with a three-goal run to extend their advantage.
The third quarter solved nothing with both teams scoring twice, but things got interesting in the fourth when Saskatchewan scored a three-goal run of their own to again draw to within a single goal. New York’s Stephen Keough stopped the bleeding by scoring two goals less than a minute apart to complete a natural hat trick and the Riptide were able to hang on for the victory.
Jeff Teat had an impressive night for New York, scoring four times and adding nine assists for 13 points, while the Rush were paced by Ryan Keenan (3 G, 3 A) and Robert Church (4G, 2 A), both with six points.
The Rush then headed south to face the Swarm and got off to a strong start, scoring the only goal of the first period and adding three more in the second to take a 4-0 lead to halftime. Georgia finally got onto the scorecard two minutes into the third quarter and closed the gap to 6-3 going into the final frame.
After the teams exchanged goals early in the fourth, the Swarm went on a tear, scoring five unanswered goals to come all the way back and take the victory.
Lyle Thompson (3 G, 2 A) and Andrew Kew (3 G, 2 A) were instrumental in the comeback, each contributing three points in the last quarter, with Kew scoring the game winner with just 2:52 left in regulation. Church had his second straight four goal, two assist night in the loss.
The Rush don’t get to rest after that busy weekend—they now play an unusual Thursday night contest against the Philadelphia Wings tonight in Philly. The teams are tied for 11th place, so this will be a critical test for both squads, who still have a shot at the playoffs if they can finish the season strong.
