Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Colleen Shaw
The Toronto Rock (2-0) travelled to Texas on Friday December 22, 2023 to meet Panther City for the first time. They were looking to build on their win a couple of weeks ago against the Philadelphia Wings (1-2), the only other game they have played so far this year. The Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-2) lost a heart breaker to Las Vegas (1-2) their last time out which evened their record at 1 – 1. For the second game in a row the Panther City team allowed a fourth quarter lead slip away and now will need to go on the road for the next month to try and stop their two-game slide. The game was a back-and-forth affair as Toronto took advantage of two four-goal runs, one in each half hanging on to defeat Panther City 13 – 10.
In the first two minutes of the first quarter there were two fights that led to a power play for Panther City and they took advantage of it. The ball was moved around the outside, Phil Caputo (2G) received the ball mid-range and his high to low shot beat Nick Rose (43 saves) to the low glove hand side for the early 1- 0 lead. With just under 10 minutes left in the quarter Challen Rogers (1G, 4A) would fire a pass behind the net to Dan Craig (1G, 4A), he dove in front and beat Nick Damude (39 saves) to the open side to tie the game at one. With Panther City in transition Brandon Goodwin (1G) went in on the cage and his bounce shot beat Rose off the cross bar hit, him in the back and went over the line for a 2 – 1 Panther City lead. On another power play Evan Messenger (1G) went through the legs on a bounce shot after picking up a loose ball and going in on a two on one. Panther City would have the lead 3 – 1 with seven minutes left in the first. A little over a minute later, Toronto would get one back. Chris Boushy (3G, 1A) would shoot around his defender and his low to high shot went far side cutting the lead to 3 – 2. The time the Rock would score in transition. Dan Lintner (2A) would pass to Justin Martin (1G) on a two on one and Martin would fire one glove side tying the game at three. In the last minute of the first, Johnathan Donville (1G, 3A) came off the bench, received a pass from Will Malcolm (2G, 3A) and went in on Rose and his low shot beat him through the legs to give them a 4 – 3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Both teams had 14 shots on goal in the first.
Four minutes into the second quarter in transition Mitch de Snoo (1G, 2A) shot around his defender and went low to the stick side tying the game again 4-4. This would start a four-goal run for the Rock. Mark Matthews (3G, 3A) picked up a rebound at the side of the net, fed to Boushy in front, he did a spin move on his defender and beat Damude through the legs with a backhand shot giving Toronto their first lead of the game at 5 – 4. Another defender would score for Toronto in transition when de Snoo passed to Phil Mazzuca (1G) and his bounce shot went short side increasing the Rock lead 6 – 4. With 2:01 left in the half, Toronto would close out their run when Rogers beat his defender, went directly at the net and dove across to the far side giving the Rock their biggest lead of the night, 7 – 4 Toronto. Less than a minute later, Panther City would get one back when W. Malcolm came over the top, fired a high to low bounce shot, and it went through the legs cutting the Rock lead to 7 – 5 at the end of the first half. The shots at the end of the half were Toronto 29—Panther City 25.
The third quarter saw limited action with each side putting up only two apiece. Early in the third while on the power play the Rock’s Matthews would fire a shot from the top and beat Damude through the legs, increasing their lead to 8 – 5. Toronto would get their final goal in the frame 20 seconds later. Corey Small (2G, 1A) fired a high-to-high shot over the shoulder and it was 9 – 5 for the Rock. The final two came from Panther City. Callum Crawford (1G, 3A) cut behind the net, passed to W. Malcolm in front and he went five-hole to make it 9 – 6 with the Rock still holding the lead. Panther City scored their second in a row when Crawford passed to Caputo and his bounce shot went short side and it was 9 – 7 for the Rock with less than ten minutes left in the third quarter. Both net-minders held strong for the remainder of the frame. At the end of the third quarter the shots were Panther City 39—Toronto 33.
Panther City would stay hot to start the final frame and cap off a five-goal run. Crawford would be the one to open the scoring in the fourth quarter. He headed to the net with two defenders on him and only one hand on his stick, he threw a one handed shot high to low and beat Rose through the legs to make it a one goal game 9 – 8 for the Rock. Pat Foley (1G) would continue the run. He’d pick up a loose ball at center, ran the length of the floor and his bounce shot went five-hole to tie the game at nine with a little over 10 minutes left in the game. They would close out their run and their scoring on the power play. Donville made a skip pass to Mathieu Gautier (1G) whose quick stick went short side to give Panther City the lead at 10 – 9, their first lead since there was 44 seconds left in the first. The lead was short lived as Toronto would tie it up a couple of minutes later. Matthews would come across the top and fired a high to low shot to the opposite side, beating Damude to the far bottom corner tying it up at 10’s. Twenty seconds later Matthews would do the exact same move across the top and beat Damude to the bottom corner for his hat trick goal reinstating the lead for the Rock at 11- 10 with just over seven minutes left in the game. The Rock would add to their lead when Rogers fed to Small, and his quick stick went short side giving the Rock a two-goal lead 12 – 10 lead. With less than a minute left in the game the Rock had a chance to close it out with the Panther City goalie pulled. Rogers would pass the ball down to the far end and it bounced off the boards right to Boushy who quick sticked the ball into the empty net. The final shots on goal were Panther City 53—Toronto 52. Final Score: Toronto 13—Panther City 10.
The Three Stars of the game were:
Mark Matthews – Toronto Rock: 3G, 3A
Will Malcolm – Panther City: 2G, 3A
Chris Boushy –Toronto Rock: 3G, 1A
NEXT UP:
Toronto (2-0) will be back at home on Saturday December 30, 2023 and will host the New York Riptide (0-2), game time 4:00 p.m. EST. This is the Game of the Week for fans in the USA and the game can be seen on ESPNU. This is also the Game of the Week for fans in Canada and they can catch the game on TSN.
The Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-2) have a bye-week and will head out on the road to face the Georgia Swarm (2-1) on Saturday January 6, 2024, game time 7:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can catch the action on TSN+.
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©