Tom Coyne, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome
The last time the Buffalo Bandits (6-7) played the Georgia Swarm (6-7); they were at home in February and won big over the Swarm 19-8. Sunday March 18, they had to play away at “The Hive” in Georgia where 3,863 fans were buzzing on Hero Night. The Swarm needed this win but so did Buffalo. A win for Georgia would get them out of the Eastern Division cellar and propel them to a three way tie for third, with the Bandits and Rochester. They would split the series. Final score: Swarm 14—Buffalo 10.
The Swarm struck first off a three-goal run, the first on a power-play goal from Lyle Thompson (5G, 1A); followed by brother Miles (2G, 3A). Big Kiel Matisz (1G, 3A) scored the next goal for the Swarm with 7:48 left in the first quarter off a cannon shot to the back of the net beating Zach Higgins, who was minding the nets in their first meeting. Eventually, Dhane Smith (2G, 5A) got the apple, fed it Craig England (2G) allowing the Bandits to break the ice scoring on Swarm net-minder Mike Poulin at the 4:48 mark. Buffalo would strike back on a power play goal off Mitch Jones (1G, 1A) making the score 2-3, and how the opening frame ended.
In the second, the Swarm took advantage on the Bandits penalty off the Vaughn Harris “holding stick” call at the 27 second mark. They would score three consecutive power-play goals to go up 6-2. Jessie King (1G, 4) would make an impressive diving shot, with the helper coming from (M) Thompson after he scrapped for, and then scraped up a “loosie” in front of the crease that had deflected off of King’s ankle. The next man up goal featured about three back-to-back passes and (L) Thompson scoring from up top on a five on three power-play at 2:55; then Shayne Jackson (1G, 3A) got in the box and scored with a shot as he flew through the crease. Not to be outdone Jerome Thompson (1G, 1) found twine with two seconds remaining on the shot clock off an outside shot (assists from Brothers Lyle & Miles) for a fantastic family affair of a play. Georgia was now up 7-2 with Buffalo shaking their heads. After a big save from Higgins denying Matisz, the Bandits would see Smith score his second with 6:17 left in the half. Buffalo held tough as Higgins came up with a yet another big save on (M) Thompson and cleared it up the field. Ryan Wagner (1G, 1A) would score for Buffalo with 4:32 left to go in the half. Thompson (L) would score his second of the frame and the hat-trick with the apple from Matisz. Shawn Evans (3G, 1A) got his fourth goal as a Bandit and his first of the game, a blistering shot from the high right wing at 12:36. Georgia wanted to close out the quarter the same as they had opened it up. Jordan Hall (2G, 1A) scored the final goal as he launched into a dive shot on the crease beating Higgins to the punch at 13:03. Both net keepers made some beautiful saves during the frame. Score at the end of the first half: Swarm 9—Bandits 5.
Only 54 seconds into the third, Evans would draw a penalty on John Ranagan allowing Smith to score on the ensuing power-play as the Bandits would get to within three. Buffalo caught a break when Jesse King blew a one-on-one with Higgins after an errant pass that would have been an over and back violation. The men in black and white let the play continue as King waited in the Bandits defensive zone. This allowed Evans to score again on a beautiful behind-the-back shot off a behind-the-back pass from Mark Steenhuis. Zach Herreweyers a Loyola Greyhound would get his first goal of game and his career, on a total layout dive shot at 8:49 and boy was it a beauty. This brought Buffalo to within one. But what happened next was key as (L) Thompson on the ride stripped the ball from Steve Priolo (C) at midfield “the timeline”; scooped it up; raced in; launched and did one of his Texas Twister shots blowing it past Higgins before landing in the crease giving Georgia the two goal cushion. Score at the end of three: Georgia 10—Buffalo 8.
The fourth had a slow start with (M) Thompson scoring his 2nd of the game with 10:45 left with Bryan Cole doing ground ball work and getting the assist. Hall would hit right back with a highlight reel goal from about 25 feet out. Hall caught a pass from Jackson, his back to the goal; shot underhand; sent the ball between his legs and off the inside of the right post. The Swarm had scored for the 12th time. With a lot of time left on the clock, this one wasn’t in the books yet. This is when the game got bizarre. Smith shot on the crease with Mike Poulin making the initial save all for not as the ball trickled through his bottoms and over the line. Luckily for Georgia, Smith had carelessly stepped into the crease nullifying his own goal. Ironically, earlier in the game (M) Thompson had stepped into the crease, nullifying a Jackson goal. Evans would notch his hat-trick with another low laser beam shot. With 5:55 remaining, Buffalo was down by two. With less than five minutes remaining Cole got called for a minor although it could have, or rather should have been a major cross-check to the head, Evans taking one for the team. Just as he was about to start up the ensuing power-play, the Swarm bench erupted pointing towards Evans, the referee stopped commencement of play and inspected his compression shorts; he would be waved off the field into the sin bin as his apparel was in violation of NLL guidelines. With the illegal equipment penalty, it was all even for the next two minutes. On the ensuing possession (L) Thompson would score for the fifth time putting Georgia up by four. Buffalo would pull Higgins in favor of the extra attacker and England would score his second of the game. With only 1:07 on the ticker, Poulin made another save with a beauty of an outlet pass to Joel White, with what should be a goalie apple scoring on the empty net. This turned the tables and made up for when he beat Higgins, but hit the left post on a breakaway. With only 34.9 seconds left the Bandits were left to shuffle back up to Buffalo. Final Score: Swarm 14—
Lyle Thompson; Mike Poulin; and Dhane Smith were the three stars of the game.
Things should be very interesting for the final weeks of the regular season. Can the reigning Champs make a run at the top spot or will New England be the Divisional Champs? Don’t count Buffalo out just yet; with Smith and Evans, anything is possible.
Tom Coyne, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome