Week 9 Saturday Shootout: Who Won and Why?

Buffalo survived their visit to Colorado...

Week nine couldn’t match week eight’s chaos; however, two of the five meetings resulted in overtime. New England fell and Halifax is 6-0. Who would have predicted that? Here is my weekly overview of all the games. With that, let’s learn what happened.

New York (6) at Philadelphia (14) *Friday*

A good ol’ fashioned New York versus Philadelphia sports meeting. The city of brotherly love didn’t show much to Riptide. New York made the crowd (7,183) sweat at halftime with a 5-5 halftime score; however, Philadelphia took over in the second half. Cory Vitarelli (3 goals, 1 assist) started a three-goal run early in the third. The Wings never looked back. Brett Hickey did his thing with 5 goals and 1 assist. With New England’s loss, Philly is tied for first in the eastern division.

San Diego (15) at New York (11)

The Seals craved a second victory. They earned it on the east coast. It was the same story for New York. A tie game at halftime (7-7) turned into a collapse. San Diego outscored the Riptide 8-4 in the second half. New York won’t win much without playing a full sixty minutes. That said, first overall pick, Tyson Gibson (3 goals, 2 assists) has turned it on. San Diego can thank Connor Fields (1 goal, 4 assists) and Jeremy Noble (1 goal, 5 assists) for the win.

Buffalo (13) at Colorado (12)

A tight one in the loud house! A crowd of 10,994 was treated to a clean, even match. Only two penalties were called on both squads. Colorado’s Ryan Lee (5 goals) and Chris Wardle (8 assists) tormented Buffalo’s defense; however, Buffalo’s Josh Byrne (7 goals, 1 assist) and Dhane Smith (6 assists) answered. An unfortunate bounce off Dillon Ward’s shoulder allowed Corey Small (2 goals, 3 assists) to score the game winning overtime goal.

Halifax (15) at Calgary (12)

Can anyone beat the Thunderbirds? A hostile crowd of 15,362 Roughneck fans wasn’t enough to push Calgary over the edge. A 9-2 Halifax third quarter allowed the Thunderbirds to coast into the fourth with a 12-8 lead. Calgary’s Tyler Pace impressed with 4 goals and 1 assist. Unfortunately, everyone on Halifax’s offense played lights out. Stephen Keogh tallied 5 goals. Defenseman Graeme Hossack lived up to his billing with 2 assists, 9 loose balls, and one forced turnover. Jake Withers went 27 of 32 on faceoffs. He may be better than Baptiste. It’ll be fun to see how long Halifax keeps rolling.

Georgia (11) at New England (10) *Sunday*

New England falls! New England’s vaunted defense couldn’t close it out. Down 7-10 in the fourth, Georgia scored three consecutive goals to force extra lacrosse. Shane Jackson (3 goals, 4 assist) would not be denied on Georgia’s tenth goal. Miles Thompson (2 goals, 3 assists) silenced Mohegan Sun Arena with an overtime winning goal. New England shouldn’t feel too bad. Georgia is talented and no one goes undefeated. Now, will New England allow Georgia to beat them twice? We’ll find out when they host Vancouver next week. With the win, Georgia is 3-3 and back in the playoff race.

Conclusion

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I currently play division two lacrosse at Caldwell University. Our season has begun; therefore, I am very busy with practices and team activities. That said, the number of articles I post may be less than what I was doing in December. This is not a given, but I want you all aware in case I am slow in posting. It really just depends on the practice schedule and my coursework at that given time.

Thank you all for reading! Looking forward to another great week of NLL action.