Christopher Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Courtesy of Rochester Knighthawks
This weekend marked the first time in almost two years that we have seen NLL action. As many teams have made key additions not to mention the addition of the Panther City Lacrosse Club to the NLL, this weekend’s action was nothing short of exciting especially the Rochester Knighthawks (1-0) versus New York Riptide (0-1) contest. Rochester opened their season on the road taking on New York at the Nassau Live Center where both teams put on an amazing show which would send the game into sudden death overtime with newly acquired talent Thomas Hoggarth (3g) netting the game winner at the 1:30 mark in the overtime period to give Rochester the win. Final Score OT: Rochester 13—New York 12.
New York would actually strike first in the contest at the 4:30 mark of the first period to put the Riptide up 1-0 off a Jeff Teat (3g, 2a) tally. The Knighthawks would answer back tallying off the next two scores. Holden Cattoni (4g, 2a) netting his first of four on the night followed up by Turner Evans (1g) netting his only goal at the 6:26 mark to put Rochester up 2-1. The Riptide would tie the contest about a minute later off a Connor Kearnan (3g) goal 2-2 at 7:15. It became a back and forth defensive standstill for the next seven minutes of play as Rochester would close out the scoring in the first at the 13:47 mark with Ryland Rees netting his only tally on the night. Score at the end of one: Rochester 3—New York 2.
It would remain a close contest throughout the second period, but Rochester struck first this time with one from Cattoni netting a power-play goal just :28 seconds in to put the Knighthawks up 4-2. In addition Cattoni would tally two more scores in the period with Rochester’s only other goal coming from Hoggarth. The Riptide would net scores from four different players in the second period, with Rochester heading into halftime with a 7-6 lead.
Third period action would see both teams only netting two scores apiece, with Rochester tallying scores from Charlie Bertrand (2g) with his first of two on the night and Cory Highfield (1g, 1a). Netting scores for the Riptide were Callum Crawford (2g, 1a) and teammate S. Dominey (2g) tallying the other. Rochester would hold a one goal lead 9-8 at the end of the third period.
Rochester would start the fourth period strong with Bertrand and Shawn Evans (1g, 4a) tallying both their scores in the first 30 seconds to put the Knighthawks up 11-8. The Riptide would answer back with two straight scores of their own from Kearnan and Teat to make it an 11-10 contest at the 3:59 mark. Rochester would get their last tally in the frame at the 4:21 mark from Hoggarth putting them up by two making it 12-10. But New York wouldn’t make it easy for Rochester as they would tally two scores late in the period to tie it up at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime, tallying the last two in the fourth for the Riptide were Teat and Kearnan. Score at the end of the fourth: Rochester 12—New York 12.
Overtime would have everyone on the edge of their seats. But at the 1:30 mark of the overtime period Rochester’s Hoggarth would net the game winner to give the Knighthawks a 13-12 opening weekend win.
STATS:
New York—SOG 36; Saves 18; FO 15-28; PP 1-0
Rochester—SOG 31; Saves 24; FO 13 PP 1-3
NEXT UP:
The Rochester Knighthawks (1-0) will play host to the Buffalo Bandits (1-0) on Saturday December 11th at the Blue Cross Arena at 7:30 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on ESPN+ in the USA & on TSN.ca or the TSN app in Canada.
The New York Riptide (0-1) will play host to the Georgia Swarm (0-1) on Sunday December 12th at 3:00 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN+ in the USA & on TSN.ca or the TSN app in Canada.
Christopher Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©