Rochester holds off New England, 15-13, to set up for the final weekend.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Knighthawks kept their slim National Lacrosse League playoff hopes alive with a 15-13 victory over the New England Black Wolves on Saturday night before 5,816 fans at the Connors & Ferris Field at the Blue Cross Arena.
“We just stayed level-headed,” Knighthawks forward Dan Dawson said. “We didn’t let them go on big runs and that was the biggest change in our game. We had our own run, but we limited their opportunities tonight.”
Dawson had his best night of the season with four goals and two assists.
Rochester also received a career-high seven-point effort from rookie Dan Lomas, who scored three goals and added four assists.
“He had a great night that started with his first couple of shifts,” said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. “He came up in transition and had a great game.”
Joe Resetarits extended his scoring streak to 16 games with his two goals and two assists. Jordan Dance chipped in with three assists in his home debut, and Marty Hill collected a pair of assists in his pro debut.
More impressively, Rochester got production from its defense. Ian Llord netted a career-high two goals to go along with an assist, while Paul Dawson and Graeme Hossack each posted two points (1+1).
“It was a great win and now we’ve got to transfer that energy over to next week,” said Llord. “We’ve got to have a good practice this week and go work hard against Georgia.”
The game was tight throughout the night with five ties and five lead changes while neither lead by more than three goals at any point.
“It was a fun game and we weren’t taking ‘no’ for an answer,” Lomas said. “All the guys came out and played the best that they could and it was a great result for us.”
Lomas scored two first-quarter goals to give the Knighthawks a 6-4 lead after one quarter. His final tally of the night was shorthanded and gave Rochester a 13-10 advantage early in the fourth quarter. Lomas also assisted on Dawson’s goal at 7:55 of the final stanza, which proved to be the game-winner.
“It’s the only way we’re going to win,” said Dawson. “We need contributions from everyone and it was nice to see Dan (Lomas) answer and do what he did in transition. You’ve got to have fast scoring in transition, on extra-man opportunities and five-on-five and we did that tonight.”
Rochester goalie Matt Vinc recorded 36 saves, and added an assist as well.
Rochester (6-10) will close out the regular season next weekend with a home and home series against East Division champion Georgia Swarm (12-4). The Knighthawks must win both games to keep their playoff hopes alive, and get a Vancouver win over the Black Wolves next weekend. Both teams then would finish with 8-10 records with the Knighthawks holding the tie-breaker over New England.
“We’re excited for it,” Lomas said. “They’re the best team and you’ve got to beat the best team in order to be the best team. If we want to take this all the way, which we believe we can with the guys in that locker room, we’ve got to beat them twice.”
“When we leave the dressing room, we have to have our whole mindset on Georgia,” added Dawson. “They’ve had an amazing season and we know we need help getting in. The reality is we know we don’t control anything outside of our locker room and we’re going to focus on winning these two games.”
*NOTES – The Buffalo Bandits (6-11) were eliminated from playoff contention with a 20-7 loss to the Georgia Swarm Saturday night…Former Rochester Rattler Lyle Thompson leads the NLL in points with 108 for the Georgia Swarm…Former Rochester Rattler Mark Matthews is 1 point behind with 107 in NLL scoring for the Saskatchewan Rush…Knighthawks rookie Kyle Jackson was placed on injured reserve prior to the game. He was leading the team in points with 55. If he finishes the season as the team leader in points, he will join other former rookies Cory Bomberry (1998) and John Grant Jr. (2000) to do so…Former Knighthawks defenseman Mike Kirk was honored before the game…Dan Dawson is 2 assists shy of 800 with the 2 assists from tonight. With 2 more assists he will become just the fourth NLL player to reach the 800 assist plateau…The Knighthawks are 1 win shy of reaching 200 as a franchise.
Links
Rochester Knighthawks – www.knighthawks.com
Videos
Joe Resetarits pp goal – https://youtu.be/9-4_OsMg-Ew
Cory Vitarelli go-ahead goal – https://youtu.be/c1fEPl1vVg4
Dan Dawson goal – https://youtu.be/D8-x5SYJ7qA
Graeme Hossack EN goal – https://youtu.be/ay6TN2NmWgY
Dan Lomas interview – https://youtu.be/hTZhpqMJhcg
Dan Dawson interview – https://youtu.be/ReiOV8znxZY
Mike Hasen interview – https://youtu.be/v7jf4GMvN_o