Di Miller, New York Riptide Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Kyle Hess
The New York Riptide (1-7) headed down to Duluth, GA on Saturday February 12, 2022 to take on the Georgia Swarm (4-5) for the second meeting of the two teams exactly two months to the day they last met on December 12, 2021 when the Swarm defeated the Riptide at Veterans Memorial Coliseum by the score of 14-10. The Riptide have the No. 2 Penalty Kill squad in the league while the Swarm have the No. 2 Power-Play squad in the league heading into the game. Each net-minder was evenly matched, with Steven Orleman of New York sitting with a .754 Sv% and 13.19 GAA, while Mike Poulin of Georgia sitting with a .759 Sv% and an 11.37 GAA. While the game got started off at a snail’s pace with only one goal scored in the first, it would turn into a game of runs in the second, third and fourth with Georgia once again coming out on top keeping their playoff hopes alive. They’d have three different players notch hat-tricks, Thompson; Bomberry & Jackson. New York would have one, Teat. On the other side of the coin, the Riptide are third in the league in scoring with 12.3 goals scored per game, yet their woes continue and even with the stellar talent on the team and four of their seven losses being one goal games, they still can’t put together another victory. Final Score: Swarm 13—Riptide 11.
The Riptide would win the opening draw but couldn’t capitalize. The teams would trade possessions for the first five before New York would be nabbed with a cross checking penalty and the Swarm would go man-up for two. At the 5:58 mark, Brendan Bomberry (3g, 1a) made his way down the field and fired it around his defender with the quick catch and shoot on the far side pipe for a short-handed goal 1-0 Swarm. For the remaining almost 10 minutes neither team was getting clean looks and not moving the ball in transition so the score sheet did not change. Both net-minders were able to block the shots that did make it through for the remaining time on the ticker but nothing hit twine. Shots on goal at the end of one: Riptide 12—Swarm 11; Face-offs Riptide 2-2 Swarm 0-2; Saves Riptide 10—Swarm 12. Score at the end of one: Swarm 1—Riptide 0.
The teams put it together in the second scoring a combined 8 goals. Lyle Thompson (4g, 3a) got on the board early 19 seconds in. He’d go underneath, jump up, fire it back across his body right to left and with the dip and dunk fired it in 2-0 Swarm. The Riptide finally got on the board off the nice feed from Jeff Teat to Connor Kearnan (2g, 2a), he’d pop out, and with a quick snap of his top hand found a tiny bit of space at 1:07 and they closed the gap 2-1. It took a little over a minute for the equalizer. Dan MacRae (1g) on the two-on-two pushed the transition, came down the field, and fired it far side down low 2-2 at the 2:10 mark. The Swarm quickly fired back with two of their own. T.J. Comizio (1g, 2a) in transition on the give-and-go fired it across his body and buried it low for the go ahead marker at 3:08. With only one goal scored in the first, each team was getting in their groove and the goals were starting to trickle through. It took over four before the score board would move and once again Thompson got on the board. He got the defense dancing with a back-and-forth pump fake, and got Orleman to go the other way and he found the back of the net at 7:36 and doubled the lead 4-2. The Riptide passes were not connecting and they looked out of sorts for a bit and the Swarm jumped on it. With 5:26 left in the second, Kieran McArdle on the pick and roll flipped to Teat (3g, 6a), he made it look like he was going to shoot far pipe, and redirected his shot and pulled it back short side 4-3. The Swarm got their transition game going in the second and continued with two more to close out the frame. Jordan Hall (1g) off the bench came straight down, cut through the middle and fired it on the run far side low with 3:47 to go 5-3. With 2:14 Thompson would flip it to Bomberry and he’d skip one in under the arm to double them up before the half. Shots on goal in the second: Riptide 11—Swarm 13; Face-offs Riptide 3-9 Swarm 6-9; Saves Riptide 9—Swarm 10. Score at the end of two: Swarm 6—Riptide 3.
The Riptide would outscore the Swarm 5-4 in the third but Georgia would carry their run into the frame. Brian Cole set the pick and with the spot on feed to Shayne Jackson (3g, 3a) he’d catch it on the back side on the crease and while falling forward dunked it in short side 19 seconds in 7-3. Bomberry would notch his hat-trick when Jordan McIntosh drew the double team, he’d fake right, switched sides and fired it right around his defender near side and got Orleman leaning at 1:23 giving them their largest lead of the night 8-3. New York settled down and everyone was getting a touch, the ball was going side to side, and Jake Fox (2g) got the pass inside and with a nifty spin move, buried it out in front to stop the four goal run at the 2:35 mark 8-4 Swarm. The teams once again traded possessions for a couple and at 4:51 the Riptide would go man-up again. It took almost the full two before they’d get to capitalize. The Riptide used some good ball movement with the tic-tac-toe, and the cross crease feed from Kearnan, Callum Crawford (2g, 3a) on goal line extended (GLE) with the quick stick dunk shot put it over the shoulder of Poulin at 6:17 for the power play tally and the gap was closed to three 8-5. Thompson would notch his hat-trick on the one-on-one stutter step, as he faked left-right-left and fired it far side at 6:36 and it was 9-5. The Riptide would start their three-goal run only 26 seconds later when Crawford blew one past Poulin when he came across the floor and found a seam in the defense, got Poulin to freeze and fired it in at 6:54 and the gap was three 9-6. The Swarm would get nabbed with another penalty but they would have another successful penalty kill. It took another four and half and Crawford would pass to Teat up front and he’d send a bouncer past Poulin with 3:22 remaining 9-7. Larson Sundown (1g, 1a) would get on the board with 2:52 left. The Swarm would lay a check on Crawford, Sundown picked up the trash on the doorstep and dunked it in glove side 9-8 and that was as close as they’d get. The final tally in the third came with 2:07 left from Georgia as Ethan Walker (1g, 3a) created the separation, used the screen, fired it around his defender far side and Orleman had no idea it was coming. Shots on goal in the third: Riptide 15—Swarm 13; Face-offs Riptide 5-9 Swarm 4-9; Saves Riptide 8—Swarm 10. Score at the end of three: Swarm 10—Riptide 8.
The Swarm started off the fourth and scored all of their goals in the first eight, while the Riptide ended the scoring with all of their goals in the last six. Georgia would start off the fourth on a man-up but couldn’t capitalize. They’d get their first goal at the 2:44 mark off a shot from Jackson’s long range shot that went off the shoulder of Orleman and made its way into the net 11-8. They thought they had another goal on a breakaway by Jeff Henrick, but with Jackson in the crease, New York Bench Boss Dan Ladouceur threw the challenge flag which paid off as it was called a “No Goal”. But just like that, at the 5:35 mark, Thompson on the one-on-one jumped up and fired it over the shoulder of Orleman who tried with the corkscrew move to make the save. This was Thompson’s 25th goal of the season and back-to-back four goal games for him as well as he increased their lead 12-8. Jackson would notch his hat-trick from way outside blowing it past Orleman on the far pipe with 6:41 remaining and another five goal lead 13-8. That was it for the Swarm but it turned out to be enough. Fox would use a nifty face dodge, tuck it under and kept his feet moving and bounced it far side with 5:34 remaining. This was the first goal that the Riptide had scored since the 12:08 mark in the second and closed the gap 13-9. Kearnan from up top shot down low far side with 2:43 remaining and it was 13-10. With under two minutes, the Swarm got nabbed for an illegal substitution penalty. According to Rule #56.5 any penalty scored with less than two minutes in the game, a penalty shot is awarded. So the Riptide chose Jeff Teat for the honors. This would be his first NLL career penalty shot. He came down the field and fired it far side and hit twine to close the gap 13-11. That would be it as neither team could put the ball in between the pipes. Final Score: Swarm 13—Riptide 11.
STATS:
New York Riptide—SOG 53; Saves 36; Assists 11; LB 17; Face-offs 12-27; PP 1-3
Georgia Swarm—SOG 49; Saves 42; Assists 13; LB 23; Face-offs 15-27; PP 0-1
NEXT UP:
The New York Riptide (1-7) will host the Toronto Rock (5-3) at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY on Saturday February 26, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can watch the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
The Georgia Swarm (4-5) will head to Nova Scotia to face the Halifax Thunderbirds (4-1) on Saturday February 19, 2022, game time 6:00 p.m. EST. The game will be at the Scotiabank Centre, the first time that the Thunderbirds have been able to play at home since December. Fans in the USA can watch the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can catch the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
Di Miller, New York Riptide Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©