Five weeks into the season, San Diegans finally got their first look at the thrill of box lacrosse.
Dan Dawson scored with 4:54 left in the fourth to break a 10-10 tie and electric rookie Austin Staats scored an insurance tally with 1:24 remaining to give the Seals a 12-10 win against the Rochester Knighthawks in the team’s first-ever home game.
“That was our introduction to the San Diego area of what lacrosse is all about,” Dawson told media postgame. “We had a really emotional and special day, getting to hear some stories from Navy Seals and learning what this emblem means and it carried onto the game.”
The Seals got a reported 11,300 fans for their first game in an arena that holds 12,920, with some already donning foam crowns and flippers. It’s a good start for a franchise that lacks the history Philadelphia is able to play off of.
“Starting the first three games on the road, we were just anxious to get back here, and I’m so proud and excited we were able to come up with a win tonight,” Seals head coach and general manager Patrick Merrill said.
San Diego plays again at home next week, a test to see if the fandom continues past the novelty of a first-ever home game.
Swarm Keep Marching On
Georgia displayed 2017-levels of offensive firepower on Saturday, concocting an eight-goal run in 16 minutes of game action. Philadelphia made a game of it in the second half, getting within one goal twice in the fourth frame, but weren’t able to pull off the comeback. The Swarm remained the only undefeated team in the league with the 13-11 triumph.
Randy Staats led the team with three goals and four assists, while Lyle Thompson and Holden Cattoni notched six points apiece.
Wings forward Blaze Riorden cut the Georgia lead to 12-11 with 6:59 remaining in the game, but Staats pulled off the finishing blow when he completed his hat trick with less than a minute remaining.
“They’re the top team in the East and one of the top teams in the league, but I thought we gave them way too much respect in the first quarter,” Philadelphia head coach and general manager Paul Day said. “I’m pretty disappointed with our play in the first half and not being aggressive and being physical defensively and attacking them.”
Philadelphia has been competitive this season, but a playoff spot in the franchise’s first season seems unlikely when the Wings are now two and a half games back of fourth-placed Rochester. Kevin Crowley had two goals and two assists in his return to Philly.
Mammoth Loses Ground
Colorado suffered a third straight loss to kick off the season, failing to get an equalizer after Jacob Ruest cut the Toronto lead to 11-10 with 2:07 remaining. The Mammoth should be thankful the NLL expanded the playoffs to eight teams this year since they’re the only team in the division still searching for its first victory.
Jacob Ruest ended his cold streak, scoring his first three goals of the season, but Stephen Keogh, a 30-goal scorer last year, had another quiet night with a goal and an assist.
Ryan Benesch and Eli McLaughlin are the only Mammoth players averaging more than a goal per game. It will be tough to win many games that way.
Still, a one-goal loss is a step in the right direction after losing by five to San Diego and three to Calgary.
“We’re getting better,” goalie Dillon Ward said. We just have to continue this trend and things will take care of themselves. Obviously, we’re not where we want to be, but now that we’re getting into the bulk of our season we don’t have much time between games and we can start to get on a roll.”
Rob Hellyer had three goals and two assists for the Rock, while teammate Tom Schreiber had a goal and five assists.
Next Chapter for Black Wolves
Saturday night was the first game New England played without the question of Crowley's return hanging over the team. Head coach Glenn Clark said in his weekly press conference on Wednesday that it was a bit of a relief to just have it over with.
“[GM] Rich [Lisk] has been trying to get Kevin to sign on to a long-term deal for the last couple of seasons,” Clark said. “I’m very glad the guesswork is out of it and we know our direction and we know where our group is.”
While moving on from their own holdout, the Black Wolves spoiled the end of one of Calgary’s.
Reilly O’Connor continued his stellar start to the season with four goals and two assists, while Stephan LeBlanc added three goals and six assists in New England’s 16-12 road victory against the Roughnecks.
“It was probably the worst-case scenario,” Calgary’s Curtis Dickson told the media. “I came back when the team was playing well and tonight was a bit of a stinker.”
Dickson signed a multi-year contract on Saturday morning, ending a contract dispute intertwined with that of teammate Wes Berg’s. While agent Richard Furlong said the two were working as a package deal, Berg remains unsigned.
New England went up 4-0 in the first quarter and kept the distance at at least three goals the rest of the way.
No Place Like Home?
Vancouver is still looking for that elusive first home victory as a franchise since 2017 after a 14-10 loss to Saskatchewan.
The difference was the first and fourth quarters. The Rush blitzed the Warriors out of the gate with a 4-0 run, propelling the team to a 5-3 lead after the first frame. The Warriors cut the lead to one by the break and were only down two going into the final period, but another four-goal run by the Rush doomed Vancouver to a 1-4 record.
Saskatchewan’s Ben McIntosh notched five goals for the second straight game, while Mark Matthews had two goals and five assists.
Awareness of the Game’s History
Saturday night featured a bad look for the sport when Philadelphia Wings in-arena host Shawny Hill made statements about Swarm star Lyle Thompson that can easily be interpreted as racially charged.
“2019 and the @NLLwings arena announcer saying ‘let’s snip the pony tail’ to the whole arena and fans saying they’re going to scalp me… damn Daniel,” Thompson tweeted last night.
Both the Wings and the NLL have issued statements condemning the comments, while Hill has taken to Twitter to apologize.
“I am deeply sorry for my insensitive statements during last night’s game,” Hill wrote. “My words were poorly chosen and were not intended as racially motivated. I understand the profound hurt my words have caused. I offer my sincere apology. My words do not reflect my personal beliefs, but represent a lack of knowledge on heritage and history. I am in the process of reaching out to speak directly to the Thompson brothers in hopes of providing a direct apology.”
Hill brings up an important point. Anyone working in this game has to understand the history and background of the sport and its ties to Native American history and spiritualism. If the league or its teams are looking to bring in someone without a background in lacrosse, a brief education is necessary.
Thorpe Headed to New York
On Monday, Regy Thorpe was named the head coach and general manager of the National Lacrosse League’s expansion franchise in New York.
He is currently the Syracuse women’s team’s associate head coach and head coach of the U.S. indoor team, but will retain the latter role while relinquishing the former as a full-time employee of the newest NLL franchise.
The NLL also announced that the team, which was awarded to GF Sports in December and will call Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum its home, would unveil its name and logo in February.
Week 6 Preview
SWARM AT ROCK
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Offense: Similar to last year, Lyle Thompson has been a balanced scorer in 2019. He has 11 goals and 11 assists. Tom Schreiber is tied for fifth in the league in assists.
Defense: Rock defenseman Billy Hostrawser is second in the league in assists as a defenseman, trailing Calgary’s Chad Cummings. With four helpers in four games, he’s on pace to break his previous career high of 10.
ROUGHNECKS AT SEALS
Friday, 10 p.m.
Offense: Staats is on pace for 58 goals, 31 higher than last year’s top rookie goal scorer, Rochester’s Austin Shanks. Calgary’s Dane Dobbie moved into second in the league in points, passing Buffalo’s Josh Byrne, thanks to the Bandits’ off week.
Defense: The Seals have allowed 10 or fewer goals in both of their victories this season. Calgary is allowing 13 per game.
SWARM AT BLACK WOLVES
Saturday, 7 p.m.
Offense: New England’s O’Connor is now four goals past his total from 2018 and seven away from tying his previous career high set in 2017.
Defense: With his performance this week, Swarm goalie Mike Poulin hopped Calgary’s Christian del Bianco for tops in the league in save percentage.
WINGS AT BANDITS
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Offense: It’s time to accept Thomas Hoggarth’s offensive production isn’t a fluke. He leads the Bandits with 10 goals through three games. While Crowley is a great addition for the Wings, it’s neutralized by the loss of Brett Hickey for the season.
Defense: After giving up only four goals to Rochester last week, the Bandits defense and goalie Matt Vinc look nothing like the group that played the Wings in the season opener. Philadelphia is bottom in the league, allowing 13.5 goals per game.
KNIGHTHAWKS AT RUSH
Saturday, 8:30 p.m.
Offense: The Knighthawks are last in the league in goals per game, obviously dragged down by the four-goal performance against Buffalo. They’ll need to step up to hang with a Saskatchewan offense that trails only the Bandits with 13.66 goals per game.
Defense: Chris Corbeil snagged 14 loose balls this weekend against Vancouver.
SEALS AT WARRIORS
Saturday, 10 p.m.
Offense: Vancouver’s Jordan McBride has 12 points in three games, a five-point improvement on the three games he played last time he was in the league in 2014.
Defense: Matt Beers has 48 loose balls for the Warriors, tops among defensemen. Brodie Merrill is usually the loose ball magnet for San Diego, but Cam Holding had 10 loosies this week, one more than the Seals captain.
ROUGHNECKS AT MAMMOTH
Sunday, 3 p.m.
Offense: Benesch, the Mammoth’s leading scorer, ranks 33rd in the league, albeit it's two less games than some others.
Defense: Ward is unusually toward the bottom half of the league in goals against average and save percentage.