Rochester finishes the preseason with a 1-1-1 record.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — With the game tied 11-11 entering the final five minutes of regulation, the Rochester Knighthawks scored four straight unanswered goals to come away with a 15-11 victory over the Philadelphia Wings in their preseason finale Saturday at the Blue Cross Arena.
A week after producing a 10-point effort in Rochester’s 14-14 tie to the Toronto Rock, Shawn Evans led the way again with a team-high six points (3+3), including the final two goals to give the Knighthawks the win. In addition to another big performance from Evans, Holden Cattoni contributed five points (2+3) while Dan Lintner (4+0) and Ryland Rees (1+3) each finished with four points.
Craig Wende and Steve Fryer split time manning the pipes for Rochester, with Wende making 19 saves in the first half. Fryer would earn the win, stopping 18 shots over the final 30 minutes.
“I think we’re having fun right now. We’re starting to mesh together a little bit and starting to get comfortable with each other,” said Evans.
Philadelphia opened the scoring just 2:34 into the contest, but the lead would be short-lived as Rochester responded with three straight tallies from Curtis Knight, Lintner and Cattoni to make it a 3-1 game at the 9:03 mark.
The Knighthawks used another three-goal run to open the second quarter, including back-to-back goals on the power-play to push their lead to 6-3. Pat Saunders got things going at the 3:03 mark before Cattoni and Lintner followed up with their second goals of the night.
Rochester tacked on another in the final minute of the first half from Phil Caputo, but Kevin Crowley and Brett Hickey kept the Wings within two entering halftime.
Philadelphia came out firing on all cylinders to begin the third quarter, using a three-goal run of its own to take its first lead of the night. Liam Patten beat Fryer with a shot just nine seconds after the opening face-off to cut the deficit in half. Minutes later, Kiel Matisz set-up the game-tying goal from Matt Rambo before scoring the eventual go-ahead goal on the power-play at the 6:53 mark, putting the visitors ahead 8-7.
The exchange of goals between the two teams continued for the remainder of the third and early into the fourth quarter. With the contest knotted at 11-11 and just over six minutes remaining, the Knighthawks made one last offensive push to ultimately put the game out of reach.
Paul Dawson capitalized off a Philadelphia turnover from Cattoni and Rees and Lintner netted his fourth of the night just 51 seconds later. Evans then sealed the win for Rochester, converting on a penalty shot opportunity before adding an empty-netter with 26 seconds remaining in regulation to cap a 15-11 win for the Knighthawks.
“I think we had our most complete overall game here tonight,” said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. “We pushed the ball well in transition and we made some smart plays. Our power-play was clicking, and our goaltending was good. They made the stops that we needed them to make. Overall, it was a great team effort. Our compete level has gotten better from when we started and that’s what we need to see and that’s what we need to continue to do.”
A new era of Knighthawks lacrosse begins on Saturday, Nov. 30 when Rochester opens its inaugural NLL season against the Georgia Swarm at the Blue Cross Arena.