Hamilton, ON – The Toronto Rock (3-3) controlled much of the game but in the end fell in overtime by a score of 10-9 to the Georgia Swarm (4-3) on Saturday night at TD Coliseum in Hamilton.
“They hit their last shot,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer. “It was a real good lacrosse game and there was a lot of good stuff, positive stuff for us out there, unfortunate result. A couple of different moments in the game where we let the momentum swing their way.”
The Rock started very well, building a 4-1 lead through the opening 15 minutes on goals from CJ Kirst, Owen Hiltz, Chris Boushy, and Josh Dawick. Both sides of the offence contributing, great defence and solid goaltending, it was the start the Rock have been looking for.
Georgia chipped away at the lead outscoring the Rock 3-2 in the second frame but Hiltz’s pair of power play markers gave him a first half hat trick and the Rock were up 6-4 at the break.
Kirst scored a pair of goals with a single Swarm tally wedged between them to complete the hat trick and put the Rock up 8-5. In the final two minutes of the third quarter, Georgia struck for a pair of goals and closed the gap to one heading to the fourth quarter.
The Swarm scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to make it a four-goal run and a 9-8 lead for Georgia. For the first time in the game, the Rock were playing from behind with 10:22 to play. The Rock turned to their captain for the tying goal with just under four minutes to play. Both goaltenders stood tall in their respective nets over the final minutes of regulation and the game was headed for overtime tied 9-9.
It didn’t take long for one of the game’s all-time greats Lyle Thompson to net the game winning goal on the Swarm’s only shot of the extra frame as he ended the game 30 seconds into OT.
“We talked about playing the end of the game the best,” said Rock veteran forward Dan Craig. “We’ve shown that at the beginning of games we can have a slow start but be there at the end of the game, finish the game and win. It was the opposite of that tonight unfortunately, it’s something we have to clean up.”
Mark Matthews had three assists in the game in his second assist of the game was the 700th of his NLL career.
The Rock went 4-for-5 on the power play while Georgia was 1-for-3. Toronto outshot their opponent 57-49.
The Rock will return home again next Saturday against the Ottawa Black Bears at TD Coliseum in Hamilton on Saturday, January 31 at 7pm ET for Indigenous Heritage Night.
For more information on Toronto Rock tickets, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive by phone at 905-426-4744, by email at tickets@torontorock.com or visit torontorock.com.
