Justin Ivey, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome
The Eastern Division first place Georgia Swarm (8-4) hosted the Eastern division second place Toronto Rock (7-5) in a Friday night battle. Georgia came in undefeated at home during the 2017 season. Toronto was hoping to break that streak and better solidify their position in the playoffs. With the trade deadline quickly approaching, some would say that this also was an exhibition to see if either team will make a move to help a playoff run at the end of the season. Four quarters wasn’t enough to decide this back and forth, and in overtime, the Toronto Rock would prevail. Final Score in OT: Toronto 12—Georgia 11.
Play in the first quarter set the tone for the rest of the game. Both goalies made terrific doorstep saves in the first four minutes. Randy Staats (4G, 1A) would put Georgia on the board first with a sidearm wrap around his defender shot. For almost four minutes after, the score would remain 1-0. Again, it would be Georgia breaking the drought. This time it would be Shayne Jackson (1G, 2A) catching a beautiful cross crease pass from Lyle Thompson (3A) to beat a sliding Nick Rose. Toronto would answer this goal quickly. Kasey Beirnes (1G, 1A) would throw a sidearm around his defender to beat Mike Poulin stick side. 8:33 into the first quarter and Toronto cut the deficit to one goal. The only other score of the quarter would tie the game up. Latrell Harris (1G) would gather the turnover and run to the offensive zone with a two on zero opportunity. He kept it himself to beat Poulin five hole. The first quarter would end with both teams tied at two.
Toronto would continue their run early in the second quarter and take the lead just 1:44 in. Brett Hickey (5G) would get his first of the night to make the score 3-2. The lead would not last long. Miles Thompson (2G) would score a minute later with his 20th of the season. Even then, the tie wouldn’t last long. Just 10 seconds later, the rookie Jordan Magnuson (1G) would get his second of the season to give Toronto the lead back. Again, an almost four-minute scoring drought would come on. Neither defense was allowing good cuts and passes through the inside; nor was neither goalie going to let a bad shot go in. Leave it to the Thompson brothers to open things up. On the power-play, Lyle would make a Sports Center worthy behind the back pass to brother Miles. Miles would beat Rose with his stuff and give Georgia the spark they were looking for. Within the next minute of play, Georgia would score two more and take a 6-4 lead. Jordan McIntosh (1G, 2A) would make the run four goals with 4:58 remaining in the half. Toronto would get one back with the savvy play of Hickey. Fighting for a loose ball on the right side of the crease with two Georgia defenders, he would find it and in one motion lift and shoot past an out of place Poulin to put a stop to Georgia’s streak. The first half would end with a score of Georgia 7—Toronto 5.
Toronto would strike first in the third quarter. Mitch Belisle (1A) would be called for an illegal body check major just 51 seconds in allowing a huge man advantage to Toronto. They would score twice with the opportunity to tie the game up. Momentum was clearly in Toronto’s favor as every ground ball seemed to bounce their way. For the next five minutes, neither team would be able to break the tie. The Georgia rookie Connor Sellars (1G) would break the drought this time. He would take a turnover all the way down field to beat Rose for his third goal of the year. As last time, this Georgia goal would spark their offense. Staats would strike next as Lyle Thompson drew a double team cutting to the crease, flipping the ball back for the open look. Joel White (1G) would get his first of the season shorthanded to make the run three. He beat everyone for the tipped pass and took it all the way. Toronto would answer late in the quarter again, and again it was Hickey. This time it came with 10 seconds left with a laser bounce shot from top middle. The third quarter would end Georgia 10—Toronto 8.
Georgia would quickly answer the Toronto goal to start the fourth quarter. Staats would shoot around Brodie Merrill and get the Georgia lead back to three with his fourth of the night. Hickey would answer the call for Toronto and score again with a bounce shot from the top middle just 24 seconds later. Stephan Leblanc (1G, 4A) would follow suit and rip another bounce shot past Poulin a minute and a half later to cut the deficit down to one. The next 11 minutes of lacrosse would belong to defense and goaltending. Nick Rose and Mike Poulin would both make highlight saves to keep the ball out of the net. With 1:11 left Toronto would get possession and call timeout down one. Rose would head to the bench for the extra attacker and it would pay off. Just seconds in, Reid Reinholdt (2G, 1A) would sneak open in front of the crease, catch the pass from Tom Schreiber (1G, 4A) and net the game tying goal with 1:02 left on the clock. Georgia would get one more chance with 21 seconds left, but could not capitalize after the time out. The fourth quarter would end with both teams tied at 11.
In overtime games this year, Toronto was 0-2, losing once against Georgia and once against New England. Georgia was 1-0, their only overtime game a win in Toronto. To make this moment even bigger, this was the first overtime game at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Field at Infinite Energy Arena ever. Georgie would get the first try, but could not beat Nick Rose. Reinholdt, the game tying hero, would run a back cut down low, catch a pass from Leblanc and beat Poulin again for the game winner, handing Georgia their first home loss of 2017. Final Score in OT: Toronto 12—Georgia 11.
UP NEXT:
Georgia (8-4) hosts the Colorado Mammoth (8-6) on Saturday, April 1 at 7:05 PM.
Toronto (8-5) hosts the Vancouver Stealth (5-8) in their second game this weekend, Saturday, March 25 at 7:00 PM.
Justin Ivey, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome