Swarm fall to Roughnecks 12-11

Scoring Summary

Team
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Final

Georgia Swarm (3-3)
3
5
2
1
11

Calgary Roughnecks (3-3)
2
1
6
3
12

LINK: Official Box Score

NLL.COM

Photo Credit: Candice Ward

CALGARY – Despite dominating the first half of play, the Georgia Swarm (3-3) lost 12-11 to the Calgary Roughnecks (3-3) Saturday evening in front of 9,531 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

The Swarm led 8-3 at halftime and appeared to be headed for their third-straight win until Calgary used a 6-2 run in the third quarter to make it a whole new ballgame. With the score tied at 11 late in the fourth quarter, defenseman Greg Harnett scored the game-winning goal for the Roughnecks at the 2:56 mark. Swarm rookie forward Lyle Thompson (2A) had a scoring chance with less than five seconds left in the fourth, but Roughnecks goalie Mike Poulin made the game-winning save.

Kiel Matisz (1G, 2A) opened the scoring at the 13:14 mark in the second half to give Georgia its largest advantage of the evening at 9-3. After holding Calgary scoreless for seven-plus minutes, the Roughnecks managed to score three goals in a 1:04 span to re-energize its home crowd. Johnny Powless (2G, 1A) stopped Calgary's run momentarily with a score shortly after, but another three Roughneck goals cut the Swarm's lead to 10-9 to close out the third.

One minute into the fourth quarter, Roughnecks forward Curtis Dickson (4G, 2A) tied the game at 10, but the Swarm responded to re-gain the lead after Randy Staats tallied his second goal of the night. Staats led the Swarm with six points (2G, 4A) and Shayne Jackson recorded a hat trick to go along with one assist.

Just when it looked like Georgia was on pace to hold onto the win, the Swarm saw one of their goals overturned due to a crease violation which would have made the score 12-10. Moments later, Calgary forward Tyler Digby tallied his game-high fifth goal to tie the game back at 11 at the 3:48 mark.

Swarm goalie Brodie MacDonald made 40 saves in the loss and dropped to 3-2 on the season.

The Swarm returns home to Harrah's Cherokee Casino Field at Infinite Energy Arena for a Valentine’s Day showdown on Sunday, Feb. 14 against the Buffalo Bandits at 2:05 p.m. To purchase tickets, call 844-4-GASWARM or visit GeorgiaSwarm.com