Photo Credit Featured Image: Toronto Rock
Justin Ivey, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome
After beating New England at home last week in the Eastern Division first round, Toronto returned to the Air Canada Centre to host the No. One seed Georgia Swarm in the first game of the Eastern Division Finals. Toronto easily defeated the Black Wolves last week, while Georgia watched from home to see who they would face. The road team won both matchups this season, and both games went to overtime. It was sure to be an exciting matchup for the finals advantage. In the end, Georgia would come out on top beating Toronto with a score of 11-8.
Brandon Miller would come out and start in net for Toronto as opposed to Nick Rose, the starter for most the season. Miller had replaced Rose in the last two weeks and earned the starting nod. It was a great decision. Georgia’s historically high powered offense took 14 shots in the first quarter and Miller let none into the net. Toronto, would only take eight shots in the first quarter, but would beat Georgia goalie Mike Poulin on one. Stephan Leblanc (1G, 3A) faked a shot and fired a long pass cross field to Dan Lintner (2G) who used the quick stick to beat the sliding goal tender. Both teams would get a power play opportunity in the first quarter, and neither would be successful. At the end of the first quarter, Toronto led Georgia 1-0.
Toronto built on the lead immediately in the second quarter. Off the opening draw, Jesse Gamble (2A) picked up the loose ball in a swarm of defenders. Managing to somehow get a pass away, he found a streaking Damon Edwards (1G) who ran in and picked his corner. Momentum was on Toronto’s side. Georgia’s offense looked good, but their patented pick and roll cuts were not connecting due to an active Toronto defense. Leblanc would put the Rock up three just under four minutes into the quarter as he collected a wide shot, semi-circled back to the middle and fired a shot. Just over two minutes later, the Swarm would finally find the goal. Shayne Jackson (2G, 2A) caught a pass on the crease from Lyle Thompson (3A), threw one fake to get Poulin off balance and easily popped it in. On the next possession off the face off, Toronto would answer. Brett Hickey (1G) lowered his shoulder and let loose a cannon to burn the bottom corner. The three-goal lead was back. With just under six minutes remaining Georgia would get their second goal of the night as Jordan Hall (3G, 1A) caught the transition pass from Connor Sellars (1A) on the two on one. Miller, although spectacular for the first half, couldn’t stop that one. The first half would end with Toronto leading Georgia 4-2.
Coming out of the half break, Georgia needed to turn things around. They did with four unanswered goals, finally beating Miller with some consistency. Joel White (2G, 3A) got the first unassisted after picking up a loose ball and motoring down field. Chad Tutton (1G, 1A) scored the second with a bounce shot from up high after coming around his defender. The pick and roll finally worked when Jackson let the pin point pass fly to Hall for the third. The fourth of the run was easily the goal of the game. With no angle from the side of the net, Jackson ran towards the crease with two defenders in front of him. Somehow, he got through, fell forward and found the sliver of space to hit the net. The run spanned the first 10:28 of the second half and put Georgia in the lead 6-4. Toronto would get one back on a pretty power play goal from Kasey Beirnes (2G). He faked the screen and as the defender stayed high on Hickey, he caught a pass from Reid Reinholdt (4A) and beat Poulin. The goal was the first power play goal of the game and came with 51 seconds left. The third quarter ended with Georgia leading Toronto 6-5.
The way the game was going it seemed things would be decided in the final minutes of play and overtime was possible. Both teams were finding opportunities to go on runs and the score remained close. Georgia extended their lead back to two goals when White found Randy Staats (1G, 2A) coming off the bench without a defender picking him up. Staats easily beat Poulin given the space and time. Toronto would get it back quickly as Lintner came off the bench for a transition two on one to beat Miller off a beautiful touch pass from Gamble. Georgia turned the jets on and went on a three-goal run to gain control of the game after that. Miles Thompson (1G) got his only goal of the game coming off the Staats screen to the middle to start it. Hall was the recipient of a nifty behind the back pass from Jackson to get open on the crease for the second goal. The third was an unassisted empty netter scored by Joel White with 3:27 left. Toronto attempted to swing momentum by pulling Miller for the extra attacker, but Poulin made the save and Miller could not get back in enough time. Down 10-6, Toronto won the ensuing faceoff and Miller headed to the bench again. This time it paid off as Tom Schreiber (1G, 1A) let it rip from outside to get back within three. They would get their next offensive opportunity with 1:45 left and keeping in form, Miller headed to the bench. Again, pay dirt as Beirnes picked a corner with his laser from outside. Now down 10-8 with 1:31 left in the game, Toronto would keep the extra man for the faceoff. They won possession but could not get a shot on net before the shot clock expired. The ball bounced all the way to the Toronto zone where Jordan MacIntosh (1G) picked it up, got the quick restart and scored the second empty netter of the game. It would be the final goal of the game. Final Score: Georgia 11—Toronto 8.
UP NEXT:
Georgia hosts Toronto for the second game of the East Division Finals on Saturday, May 20 at 7:00 PM.
If Toronto wins, they will play the mini game tiebreaker immediately following to determine who moves on to play for the cup.
Justin Ivey, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome