Minnesota Swarm fall short to undefeated Washington Stealth 12-9
The National Lacrosse League’s (NLL) Minnesota Swarm (1-4) suffered a tough loss to the undefeated Washington Stealth (6-0) by a score of 12-9, in front of 3,526 fans in Comcast Arena at Everett Friday night. The western rivals will face off in a rematch next Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.
The Swarm battled hard all night and played solid defensively along with F Callum Crawford’s five points (3g, 2a) and F Tim Campeau’s four assists. G Nick Patterson made 29 saves.
The Washington Stealth entered Friday’s game with the best offense in the NLL but the Swarm held its ground. The league’s top point-scorer and reigning Offensive Player of the Week, Washington F Jeff Zywicki (4g, 4a) scored less than one minute into the contest. Minnesota answered back with its own offensive weapons: F Aaron Wilson (2g, 1a) got the Swarm on the scoreboard with a goal right around the crease area. Crawford, Minnesota’s leading scorer, followed up with another tally late in the first quarter to tie the game at 2-2. The Stealth would sneak in a power-play goal with six seconds left to finish the first quarter up 3-2.
Minnesota continued to get into penalty trouble during the second quarter, allowing another one of the Stealth’s top scorers, F Rhys Duch (3g, 4a), to get on the board. Swarm D Kevin Ross (1g, 0a) scored an acrobatic, unconventional goal, jumping from behind the net and shooting it off the back of Washington G Matt Roik. It proved to be a real momentum changer; Crawford ripped one for his second of the night just seconds later to tie it at 4-4. The Stealth took a brief lead before Crawford answered with the hat trick, a shorthanded goal late in the first half. Washington went into the break with another power-play goal and a 6-5 lead.
Before play even started in the second half, D Ryan Cousins fought Stealth D Eric Martin – both were ejected. Zywicki continued his offensive prowess, echoing the start of the game with a goal in the first minute. Wilson scored the Swarm’s sixth goal of the night shortly after.
Minnesota got a glorious opportunity when Washington’s Paul Rabil received a game misconduct, including five-minute major and two-minute minor penalties, giving the Swarm a seven-minute power play. F Sean Pollock (1g, 1a) tied it up but Roik made numerous key saves to keep it that way.
Duch tallied another two goals for the Stealth and Washington’s high-powered offense proved too much for Minnesota in the fourth quarter, despite another goal from Wilson and a strong game from Patterson. The Swarm kept it close but could never take the lead in a back-and-forth, physical match-up.
The Swarm will host the Washington Stealth for a rematch on Saturday, February 13 at 7:35 p.m. CST at Xcel Energy Center.
Courtesy: Minnesota Swarm
