Justin Ivey, Co-Editor and NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: M. Bowen
Last year’s expansion team, Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-0) welcomed this year’s expansion Las Vegas Desert Dogs (0-1) on Friday night at Dickie’s Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Panther City fought off more than one run from a determined Desert Dogs squad that looks to have immediate chemistry under first year NLL coach Shawn Williams. The Desert Dogs even held Panther City scoreless in the fourth quarter, but led by Will Malcolm (4G, 3A) and Phil Caputo (3G, 4A), Panther City was able to muster enough offense to squeak out a season opening win. Final Score: Las Vegas-11, Panther City-13.
It did not take much game time for Las Vegas to chalk up their inaugural franchise goal. Give the honor to #77 John Wagner (2G, 2A) 22 seconds into the game. Brandan Clelland scrapped on the face off and the eventual loose ball was gathered by Wagner. Quickly, he changed direction towards the net and found the opening from in close. The great start continued as they quickly secured the next face off too but could not capitalize to extend the lead. Panther City settled to bring the offense on for their first possession of the season and Malcolm let fire a cannon from up top, beating Desert Dogs goaltender Joel Watson (13 GA, 25SV) to tie the game early. Caputo extended the Panther City lead just over a minute later, on a power play opportunity before finally the defenses settled in a little. Both sides battled for near five minutes before Rob Hellyer (1G, 3A) tied the game 2-2 with 7:41 remaining. Jon Phillips (2G, 2A) gave the Desert Dogs the lead with 3:35 left, but Panther City won the final minutes of the quarter. Malcolm notched his second on the power play before Nathan Grenon (1G) gave the lead back to Panther City with 1:17 on the clock. At the end of the first quarter, Panther City Lacrosse Club led the Las Vegas Desert Dogs 4-3.
Panther City scored two straight to open the second quarter, extending their lead to 6-3 in the first minutes. Liam Patten (1G) scored Panther City’s third power play goal of the first half 3:37 in and Liam Byrnes (1G, 1A) was found open in transition by Tony Malcolm (1A) for an unsettled goal just seconds later. The Desert Dogs needed some bite, and they found it in Jack Hannah (2G). Supposedly on the bubble at the end of camp, Hannah led the team with 13 shots on goal and took many of them from the tight spots late in the clock. In the middle of the second quarter, he scored two in a row. The second came on the power play before Sam Firth (1G, 1A) tallied a goal with 1:12 remaining in the half tying the game 6-6. With not much time left on the clock, both teams managed to net one more. Panther City’s Patrick Dodds (1G, 4A) scored with 40 seconds remaining, and after the ensuing face off Jacob Ruest (1G, 3A) scored unassisted to quickly wipe away the lead. At halftime, the Panther City Lacrosse Club and Las Vegas Desert Dogs were tied 7-7.
Panther City came out of the half and played a determined third quarter and outscored the Desert Dogs 6-2. Malcolm notched two in a row within the first three minutes and Panther City had a quick two goal lead. Phillips got one back for Las Vegas seconds after Malcolm’s second goal, but Panther City answered with a three-goal run. Cameron Wengreniuk (1G, 1A) scored the first and Caputo followed up with a two-goal run all on his own. Keeping the late quarter fireworks in fashion, Erik Turner (1G) scored for Las Vegas with 35 seconds on the clock, but Josh Medeiros (1G, 1A) answered 13 seconds later for Panther City. At the end of the third quarter, Panther City led the Desert Dogs 13-9.
Las Vegas made a goalie change to start the fourth quarter to try and change the flow and it worked. Landon Kells (0GA, 12SV) came in and pitched a scoreless quarter leaving an opening for the Las Vegas offense to mount a comeback. Reid Reinholdt (1G, 1A) scored unassisted 4:17 in to cut the lead to three, but Panther City had a defense that was also up to the challenge. They turned everything away until Wagner scored his second of the game with 4:21 remaining. That would end up being the last score of the game as the Las Vegas comeback fell short. Final score: Las Vegas-11, Panther City-13.
Up Next:
The Las Vegas Desert Dogs (0-1) will host The Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-0) for their inaugural home opener on Friday, December 16 at 10:39 PM EST.