“Muffler” Mike Kostiuk – Senior Correspondent, All Lacrosse All The Time
The Rochester Knighthawks faced the Georgia Swarm at Gas South Arena Saturday night in Week 6 action. Rochester came into the game on a four-game losing streak after opening the season with a win. Meanwhile, the Swarm were one of two undefeated teams in the league, looking to start 5-0 for the first time in franchise history on Native American Heritage night. It was not to be, as a big third quarter propelled the Knighthawks to a 16-9 win. Rochester improves to 2-4 on the season heading into a crucial home-and-home series with Halifax the next two weeks. Georgia (4-1) hosts Ottawa in Week 7 and travels to Calgary in Week 8.
Rochester comes out swinging in first half
Lyle Thompson (1:52) kicked off the scoring for the Swarm, but Rochester responded with a four-goal run. Goals from Curtis Knight (3:55), Brad Gillies (7:04), Kyle Waters (9:47), and Ryan Smith (13:49) put the Knighthawks up 4-1 after 15 minutes of play. Joey Cupido cut the lead to two to open the second quarter (0:45). However, Ryan Lanchbury (5:07 power play) and Connor Fields (8:32) extended Rochester’s lead to 6-2. Bryan Cole (10:35 power play) and Andrew Kew (11:11) quickly got two goals back for Georgia, but Graydon Hogg scored his first career goal (12:27) for Rochester, who led 7-4 at the half.
https://twitter.com/RocKnighthawks/status/1875716887012896924
Third quarter run helps Rochester break four-game skid
The Knighthawks came out in the second half and lit things up, quickly scoring six straight goals. Smith’s second (0:29) put them up 8-4. Thomas McConvey (1:12) and Taylor Jensen (4:45) increased the lead to 10-4. Swarm goaltender Brett Dobson was pulled in favor of Angus Goodleaf following the Jensen goal. Goodleaf was greeted with second goals from Waters (5:49), Hogg (6:10), and Jensen (8:39) for a 13-4 Rochester lead.
Cole broke the run with his second goal (9:16), and Brendan Bomberry scored a power play goal (11:29) as the Swarm tried to get back into the game. Lanchbury’s second goal (12:24) gave Rochester a 14-6 lead before Thompson scored his second goal (13:08) to make it 14-7 going into the fourth quarter. Kew’s second goal (2:34 fourth quarter) gave Georgia a glimmer of hope, but Lanchbury tallied his hat trick goal (5:08) and Fields got his second of the game (8:17) to extend the Knighthawks lead to 16-8. Rookie Kaleb Benedict closed the scoring for the Swarm with his first career goal (9:54).
https://twitter.com/NLL/status/1875741289846862135
Other Stats of Note
Knighthawks: Lanchbury (3g, 6a); Fields (2g, 6a); Waters (2g, 2a); Smith (2g, 1a); Hogg (2g, 1a); Jensen (2g)
Swarm: Kew (2g, 3a), Thompson (2g, 1a); Cole (2g, 1a); Bomberry (1g, 1a); Benedict (1g, 1a); Cupido (1g)
Mike Sisselberger, who was signed by Rochester this week, made an immediate impact at the faceoff dot. Rochester won 20 of 29 faceoffs for the game, and Sisselberger picked up 8 Loose Balls.
Riley Hutchcraft (ROC): 43 saves
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