Christopher Crane, Correspondent Rochester Knighthawks
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Kate Frese
The Rochester Knighthawks (1-5) had double duty this weekend as they took on the Calgary Roughnecks in the first game of the doubled up weekend picking up their first win of the season over the Roughnecks. Rochester would then travel south to the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday January 19, to take on the Philadelphia Wings (4-1) in front of a crowd of 7,015. A game where the stat sheet for penalty minutes (108 total minutes) was longer than the stat sheet for the goals scored on the night. Shawn Evans is now just three assists away from tying former teammate John Grant Jr., for fifth all-time in NLL history. Although it was a physical style of play kind of night, the Knighthawks unfortunately would fall to the Wings 12-4.
It was a back and forth contest for the teams, both unable to find the back of the net in the first period of play, until Trevor Baptiste (1g, 1a) for Philadelphia would get the Wings on the board first at the 9:05 mark. Baptiste would score the only goal of the period to make it a 1-0 game at the end of the one.
Rochester would finally get on the board with one from Holden Cattoni (1g, 3a) at 2:53 in the second period to make it a 1-1 game. The Wings would respond back netting two scores of their own; one from Kiel Matisz (2g, 2a); and the other from Kevin Crowley (2g, 2a) to put Philadelphia ahead 3-1. Rochester hit back with a goal from Shawn Evans (1g, 1a) as he beat the Wings net-minder Zach Higgins five-hole on a power play opportunity to make it a 3-2 game at 8:34. It was then that bottom fell out; and the game would be all Philadelphia as they got their nine goal run started in the second and would continue it into the fourth. Brett Hickey; and Corey Vitarelli would close out the scoring in the second with Vitarelli netting two making it a 6-2 game heading into the half.
Third period action would see only the Wings putting points on the board. One from Matisz netting his second on the night; and teammate Josh Currier netting the other score to extend Philadelphia’s lead to 8-2 at the end of the third.
The Wings kept going in the fourth period just as they did in the third with Crowley and Matisz getting things started on penalty shots; Hickey netting back-to-back goals at 2:39 and 4:14 and an unsurmountable lead 11-2. Rochester’s Curtis Knight would finally net his ninth of the year for the Knighthawks 20 seconds later making it a 11-3; but the Wings would answer back as Hickey would net his third of the frame and fourth on the night to make it 12-3. The Knighthawks would get one more from Phil Caputo on the man-down situation in the fourth and their first goal since the second. With 4:45 left in the game, Knighthawks rookie net-minder Rylan Hartley made his season debut, he was able to turn away all three shots he faced; but it wouldn’t be enough as Rochester would fall 12-4 to Philadelphia.
TEAM STATS:
Rochester: 45 SOG; 30 SOFF; 51 LB; 5-20 FO; 2-4 PP; 76 PIM
Philadelphia: 66 SOG; 24 SOFF; 80 LB: 15-20 FO: 7-13 PP; 28 PIM
NEXT UP:
The Rochester Knighthawks (1-5) have a bye-week and will be back in action on January 31, when they travel on I-90 to face their North Division rivals the Buffalo Bandits (3-1), game time 7:30 p.m. EST.
The Philadelphia Wings (4-2) will host the New York Riptide (1-5) on Friday January 24, game time 7:00 p.m. EST. Look for the Riptide to give the Wings for a run for their money as the Riptide have now tasted the sweetness of victory and are hungry for more.
Christopher Crane, Correspondent Rochester Knighthawks
Lacrosse is Awesome©