Shawn Palmer, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Victoria Adkins
The Georgia Swarm (8-7) hosted the Halifax Thunderbirds (9-6) on Sunday afternoon March 30, 2025, trying to solidify their spot in the playoffs. Georgia is currently sitting in the eighth and final playoff spot and needed a win to hold that spot, while Halifax is sitting in third place two games ahead of Georgia. Halifax came into this game after defeating Ottawa last week while Georgia lost their last contest against Vancouver in Week 17. The Swarm were looking for their first home win since mid- December and in a very close game where neither team could pull away, Halifax would score twice in the last 40 seconds sending the game into bonus lacrosse where Andrew Kew (2G, 1A) would tally his third OT winner for Georgia. Final Score OT: Swarm 13—Thunderbirds 12.
The game got off to a bit of a slow start with Georgia opening up the scoring in transition. Seth Van Schepen (1G) received a pass from Brendan Bomberry (1G, 2A) and his shot beat Warren Hill (43 saves) to the glove side for his first goal of the season to give the Swarm a 1 – 0 lead. A few minutes later Andrew Kew (2G, 1A) came over the top, shot around his defender and went top corner glove side doubling the Swarm lead to 2 – 0. Six minutes would go by before the next marker went up on the board. Halifax would be hit with an illegal substitution giving the Swarm their first man up on the night and they’d capitalize. Shayne Jackson (3G, 6A) passed across the floor to Miles Thompson (1G, 1A) whose quick stick went top cheddar for a 3 – 0 lead. Off the ensuing face-off, Halifax would get that one right back. Jake Withers (1G) won the draw, came down the floor and fired a high twister that beat Brett Dobson (47 saves) to the top corner, and it was 3 – 1 for the Swarm with less than four minutes left in the first quarter. The slow pace of the first would continue with the Thunderbirds netting the final tally while in transition. Clarke Petterson (1G, 5A) passed to Dawson Theede (4G, 1A) off of the bench and his low-to-low bounce shot went five-hole cutting the Georgia lead to 3 – 2. The shots on goal at the end of the first were Halifax 14 and Georgia 13.
Georgia would again open the scoring in the second quarter. Kew hit a cutting Kaleb Benedict (2G), and his low bounce shot went through the legs to double the Swarm lead to 4 – 2 less than a minute into the second. Halifax would get nabbed with their second penalty, this time an illegal body checking call and again, the Swarm made them pay. Bryan Cole (1G, 3A) fired a hard cross floor pass to Jackson and his quick stick shot went short side for a 5 – 2 lead for Georgia. Halifax would respond right back and proceeded to put up five in a row. Theede got it started with a feed to a cutting Cody Jamieson (2G, 1A) and his shot went over the shoulder to cut the Swarm lead to 5 – 3. In transition Colton Armstrong (1A) went in all alone on Dobson and his high to low shot went low to the stick side to make it 5 – 4 for Georgia. Less than a minute later Randy Staats (1G, 3A) was all alone in front, was the recipient of a pass from Ryan Terefenko (1G, 1A) and after a fake he beat Dobson to the stick side to tie the game at five. Halifax would score their fourth straight with a little less than four left in the half. Theede ran around his defender, dove across the crease and went far side for their first lead of the game to make it 6 – 5 for the Thunderbirds. Georgia would tie it up two minutes later. Bomberry passed to a cutting Cole and his shot beat Hill over the shoulder and it was six all. With just over six seconds left in the half, Petterson would fire a sidearm low shot that went through the wickets giving Halifax the lead, 7 – 6 lead heading into the second half. The shots at the end of the first half were Georgia 31 and Halifax 29.
For the third quarter in a row, Georgia would open it up. Lyle Thompson (1G, 2A) beat his defender down low, dove across the crease and beat Hill to the far side to tie the game at seven just under four minutes into the frame. Halifax would take the lead a little less than three minutes later. While in transition, Terefenko picked up a loose ball in his own end, ran the floor all alone and his shot beat Dobson stick side low restoring the Halifax lead at 8 – 7. Georgia would tie it up 38 seconds later and control the scoring for the remainder of the third. Van Shepen passed the length of the floor to Adam Wiedeman (1G), his first shot was stopped by Hill, he picked up the rebound and his low-to-low shot went through the legs to tie the game back up at eight. After killing a penalty Jordan Macintosh (1A) stripped the Halifax shooter, passed to Benedict coming off of the bench and his low-to-low shot went far post to give Georgia the 9 – 8 lead with five minutes left in the frame. The final tally came with 3:15 left in the third on a nice give and go with Thompson feeding Bomberry, he faked high and shot low to beat Hill giving Georgia a 10 – 8 lead. With 2:42 left in the frame, Georgia took a five-minute major high sticking penalty which carried over to the fourth as Halifax was unable to score during the first half of the penalty. The shots at the end of the third quarter were Halifax 44 and Georgia 42.
The fourth would start with Halifax still on the major power play and they’d capitalize 33 seconds in. Theede took a high to low shot that beat Dobson to the bottom glove side corner cutting the Georgia lead to 10 – 9 early in. Once again, the scoring slowed to a snail’s pace with the next tally coming six minutes later. While in transition John Ranagan (1A) would to feed Jackson off of the bench and his high to low shot went five-hole to make it 11 – 9 for Georgia. Thomas Hoggarth (1G, 1A) would get the Thunderbirds back to within one with a high-to-high shot that beat Dobson off of the cross bar and down past the line and it was 11 – 10 with less than seven minutes left in the contest. The Swarm would restore their two-goal lead on a transition goal. Jackson came off the bench received a pass from Jeff Henrick (1A) and his shot went low to the stick side to make it 12 – 10 for Georgia. The Thunderbirds would pull their goalie in favor of the extra attacker, and Jamieson would fire a twister shot that beat Dobson to the short side and it was 12 – 11 with 18 seconds left. They decided to keep Hill on the bench, Theede would take a sidearm shot that went low to the glove side and the game was tied at 12’s with just over two seconds left and they were headed to OT.
The teams would head into some bonus lacrosse and just over three minutes into the overtime period, Kew fired a sidearm shot that beat Hill over the shoulder to the short side to win it for Georgia 13-12.
The three stars of the game were:
Andrew Kew – Georgia Swarm: 2G, 1A including OT winner
Shayne Jackson – Georgia Swarm: 3G, 6A
Dawson Theede – Halifax Thunderbirds: 4G, 1A
GAME STATS:
Halifax Thunderbirds—SOG 59; Saves 43; Sv% .768; FO 25-28; PP 1-4; PIM 8
Georgia Swarm—SOG 56; Saves 47; Sv% .797; FO 3-28; PP 1-3; PIM 11
NEXT UP:
The Georgia Swarm (8-7) will stay at home and host the Philadelphia Wings (5-10) on Saturday April 5, 2025, at Gas South Arena, game time 7:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+, while fans in Canada get to catch the action on TSN+. The game will also be televised on NLL+.
The Halifax Thunderbirds (9-6) will play host to the San Diego Seals (8-7) at Scotiabank Centre in Nova Scotia on Saturday April 5, 2025, game time 6:00 p.m. EST. Both teams are coming off losses and will be looking for the “W” to hold their spots in the Upper 8 for the playoffs. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+, while fans in Canada get to catch the action on TSN+. The game will also be televised on NLL+.
Shawn Palmer, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©