Christopher Crane, Correspondent Rochester Knighthawks
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Cover Photo Credit: Micheline V/ Rochester Knighthawks
In this past weekend’s NLL action the Rochester Knighthawks (1-0) hosted the Philadelphia Wings (0-2) and fans wouldn’t be disappointed as these two teams haven’t seen each other since 2014 so it seems this rivalry has been renewed. For this match up it would be the Knighthawks taking the win over the Wings 13-9.
The Rochester defense and stellar play from new starting goalie Angus Goodleaf made it all Rochester in the first quarter of play as the Knighthawks would go up 5-0 at the end of the first. Rochester’s Quinn Powless (1G, 1A) would get things rolling as he would find the back of the net at 9:34 with Shanks and Robinson on the assist to go up 1-0. The rest of the scores coming for the Knighthawks would see veterans Cory Vitarelli (3G, 1A) scoring his first two of the season followed by Cody Jamieson (3G, 3A) who would also grab two scores to give Rochester the 5-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Rochester net minder Angus Goodleaf
would be perfect through the first as he faced 12 shots and ended the night making 50 saves out of 59 shots faced.
Second quarter action would finally see the Philadelphia Wings offense show signs of life as they would get on the board just 34 seconds into the quarter as Chris Cloutier (3G, 2A)would finally be able to sneak one past Goodleaf to make it 5-1 at the 14:26 mark. However, Rochester took back control as they would net the next three scores coming at the hands of Kyle Jackson (1G, 2A), Brandon Robinson, who would get his first goal as a lacrosse player after having been a Canadian university full-time hockey player (2G, 1A). Immediately following the goal, and after giving up seven on the night, Davide DiRuscio would be pulled in favor of Doug Buchan who was only able to slow down the Knighthawks momentum for 1:24 as Austin Shanks (2G, 2A) would put the Knighthawks up 8-1 at the 2:09 mark. The next goal for Philadelphia would come at the hands of Rochester NY native Blaze Riorden (1G, 4A) who was also named as a starter before the contest. Riorden would beat Rochester’s Goodleaf on a nice left handed shot from up top to make it an 8-2 game heading into halftime.
Third quarter action ended up even as each team alternated scores with Rochester getting things going first with Shanks finding the back of the net at 12:24 to put the Knighthawks up 9-2. Rochester’s other scores would come from Joe Resetarits (1G, 1A) and Robinson netting his second of the night. Philadelphia’s scores would come from Cloutier who netted two in the quarter giving him a hat trick on the night with teammate Vaughn Harris (2G), making it a 12-5 game at the end of the third quarter of play.
Fourth quarter play would see the Wings making a late surge but would fall short although they outscored Rochester 4-2 in the frame. Netting scores for Philadelphia were Brett Hickey (2G, 2A) netting two goals with teammates Josh Currier (1G, 2A) and Harris scoring one a piece. The Knighthawks would get there two scores from the likes of Vitarelli and Jamieson giving the Knighthawks a 13-9 win.
NEXT UP:
The Rochester Knighthawks (1-0) will travel to their I-90 rivals the Buffalo Bandits (2-1) next week January 5th at 7:30 p.m. EST.
The Philadelphia Wings (0-2) will head to Toronto to face the Rock (1-1) on Friday January 4, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Christopher Crane, Correspondent Rochester Knighthawks
Lacrosse is Awesome©