Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
On a warm night in Georgia, the Swarm (12-6) would host their Eastern Division rivals, the Philadelphia Wings (4-14) in front of a crowd of 8,735 hometown fans for their final game in the regular season. Georgia looked sloppy in last night’s contest, especially for a team that needed the win to clinch the number one seed in the NLL East, and Philadelphia took advantage outscoring the Swarm in all but the final frame. Georgia had only trailed four times at the half this season and were 1-3 when trailing. Tonight they would find themselves on the wrong end of the score as this contest would see them down at the half 12-7. The Wings were playing for a bit of redemption after a poor season, were looking to go out on a high note and they did just that defeating the Swarm by the score of 19-14.
The Swarm would start off the first with Holden Cattoni (1g, 2a) finding the net at the 1:31 mark. But it didn’t take the Wings long before they would go on a spectacular six goal run quieting the Georgia fans and stunning the Swarm bench. Jordan Hall (1g, 4a) started off the run; followed by Dylan Evans (1g, 1a); two from Vaughn Harris (2g); Josh Currier (3g, 3a); and a short-handed shot by Kiel Matisz unassisted at 10:34. Lyle Thompson (1g, 4a) would get his lone goal of the night teaming up with Cattoni and Shayne Jackson to stop the run. Randy Staats (3g, 1a) would get the final goal in the period as he found the open lane, with the fake got his defender leaning the wrong way and sent the shot straight up the middle over the right shoulder of Kevin Orleman cutting the lead to three. Philadelphia had a slight margin in shots on goal 15-12. Score at the end of one: Wings 6—Swarm 3.
Just as he closed out the first, Staats would get it going for the Swarm in the second with a goal in transition, he found the pass from Brendan Bomberry and with his stick, was sitting on the outside to make an unbelievable shot on cage. The give and go back and forth between Jordan MacIntosh (3g) and Shayne Jackson on the two-on-one off the nice outlet pass from Orleman, would see MacIntosh fake and hit far side getting them to within one 6-5. But Philadelphia would stop the four goal run off one from Kevin Crowley (2g, 3a) with the far shot from the outside top corner using the screen to hit short side at 4:31. Georgia would answer back a minute and change later when Brian Cole (3g, 2a) cut in off the bench and went high as Abrams went low, finding the net with a quick look shot. A push from behind on Justin Guterding sending him into the cage with Orleman would send Bomberry to the box for two allowing the Wings to go their first man up situation and they would capitalize. Off the give and go to Blaze Riorden, he’d cut past Jason Noble for the goal far side putting the Wings back up by three. Georgia would hit back on the breakaway off a great pass by L. Thompson to Adam Wiedemann burying it on a stunned Abrams, score 9-7 still in favor of Philadelphia. But again, the Wings weren’t sitting back and would go on a three goal run. Another transition goal with Matisz getting the pass to Matthew Bennett (1g, 2a) who got Orleman leaning left hitting net right. On the ensuing face-off, and only eight seconds later Trevor Baptiste who dominated at the face-off dot, fed it to Josh Currier (3g, 3a) who beat his man off the bench finding the wide open lane to the net hitting top far side giving them another four goal lead 11-7. A minute later, Courier sent a beautiful pass to Frank Brown in transition and he’d took the ball down the floor with 2:54 left in the half sending Orleman to the bench for backup net minder Craig Wende. Wende would hold strong for the remainder of the first half keeping the Wings out of the cage. Philadelphia would extend their differential in shots on goal 32-23 over Georgia and would take a 12-7 lead into the locker room.
Only 25 seconds into the third and the challenge flag was flying off the Wings bench. Shayne Jackson was trying to get the rebound, dove into the crease batting the ball in. After further review, he had landed in the crease before the ball crossed the plane, “no goal”. Currier would notch his hat-trick at 1:42 with a nice fake between two defenders, he’d put the ball high and get Wende to move hitting low around him with an incredible shot extending their lead to six. At the 2:37 mark, the Swarm would get their second man up opportunity and would finally make it count. Jackson was able to corral the pass off the rebound, and took advantage of the sloppy foot movement by Abrams standing with a wide stance, and sent it through the five-hole. Philadelphia would send two more past Wende in the next 28 seconds. The first by Matt Rambo (2g, 4a) as he saw an opening, got the pick, and had a great read to get the angle shot again through the five-hole; and the second off a good hard move to the middle by Guterding finding the net under the armpit of Wende giving Philadelphia their biggest lead on the night 15-8. With 8:24 left in the third, Georgia had given up 15 goals, their season high 19 and a lot of clock left. For a moment, the Swarm would slow things down as Zed Williams would get one back for Georgia with the tricky bounce shot that hit Abram twice before hitting net. But the Wings would say “no way” as Crowley would make the shot on goal, hitting Wende only to have Rambo get the rebound along the crease on the front door at 10:02; and Matisz would close it out with the hat-trick against his former team. Shots on goal, Philadelphia 42-30. Score at the end of three: Philadelphia 17—Georgia 9.
At the start of the second, Orleman had returned to net in the hopes to spark some offensive movement. The Swarm would outscore the Wings 5-2 in the fourth and would start it off with a classic MacIntosh move, right on the crease and down low, walking the walk, he’d battle inside and reached around Abram for the shorthanded unassisted goal at 3:41. This would start their four goal run and what fans hoped would be a Georgia comeback. The Swarm would operate from behind the cage and Cole would bury his second on the pick and roll freezing Abram for the goal; MacIntosh would do it again scoring six inches from the door step with a highlight reel behind the back goal top corner under the bar short side 13 seconds later. Georgia had picked up their defensive intensity but was getting too picky on their shots and had wasted some golden scoring opportunities. Until the 10:44 mark when Cole would sneak off the bench with a pick up high and would sneak one in with a bullet for his hat trick bringing the Swarm back to within four and a whole lotta lacrosse left. Unfortunately for Georgia, the Wings weren’t done yet. Crowley would set up on the outside and with the bounce shot put the first nail in the coffin for the Swarm at 11:11; and Steph Charbonneau would place the final dagger in the Swarms hopes for a comeback as he shot left with the corkscrew shot to put them back up by six 19-13 at 12:35. With two minutes and 15 seconds left on the ticker, Staats would notch the final goal for the Swarm and in the game with a weird play, a pick and roll by Staats he’d put it five-hole far side, with a little help from Charbonneau who would knock it in. The goal would come under review first by the officials, and then by the Wings bench. However the evidence was inconclusive and the goal stood. In the final frame, Georgia would surpass Philadelphia with shots on goal 55-51. Final Score: Wings 19—Swarm 14.
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The Wings have closed out their 2018-2019 Inaugural Season with a disappointing record of 4-14.
The Swarm are also done for the regular season and will return to play for the first weekend of the playoffs, team and time to be determined.
Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©