This weekend proved to be a rollercoaster of emotions for the Georgia Swarm, as they faced two closely contested road games that ultimately didn’t swing in their favor. The double-header weekend took them first to San Diego to clash with the Seals in overtime, followed by a matchup against Panther City in Fort Worth, Texas in a one goal game.
On Friday night, the San Diego Seals beat the Georgia Swarm 12-11 in overtime. The game was a goaltending clinic by two young up-and-coming goaltenders in the league. Brett Dobson stopped 46 of 58 shots in the loss for the Swarm, while San Diego Seals Goalie, Chris Origlieri stopped 33 of 44 shots in the win.
The Swarm took an early lead when forward Seth Oakes flew in with the quick cut to tie up the game 1-1, Bryan Cole followed 39 seconds later with another goal for the Swarm. San Diego retook the lead at 9:07 with a power play and a clear breakaway off a turnover. Georgia fought back and retook the lead in the final couple of minutes of the first quarter. Zach Miller tied it up with a slinger shot at 2:31 left on the clock. Shayne Jackson then scored the go-ahead goal on the power play with 10 seconds left. The Swarm led 4-3 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Jackson increased Georgia’s led to 5-3 at 2:49. However, San Diego forward Wesley Berg tied the game with two goals at 5 a piece.
In the third quarter, Georgia opened with a three-goal run to take an 8-5 lead. Oakes scored in less than two minutes followed by Bomberry just over two minutes later. Brady Kearnan rounded out the three-goal run at 5:29. San Diego replied with a two-goal run to make it 8-7 in favor of the Swarm. Oakes scored his hat trick goal at 9:01. Lyle Thompson followed that up with 3:42 on the clock on the power play to restore the three-goal cushion. Georgia held a 10-9 lead heading into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, Berg struck again to tie it up 10-10. Less than a few minutes late, San Diego broke away to take a one-point lead. Oakes then took a feed from Thompson and made no mistake with 3:21 left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
In the wild finish in overtime, both defenses and goaltending were solid in the early going in the extra frame. With 4 minutes into overtime, Bomberry dove from behind the net and seemingly scored the winning goal with a trick shot that could have made top 10 plays. Under review, the ball did not cross the goal line before the shot clock expired. On the very next possession, Berg scored his fourth goal with an outside shot that was the game-winner for San Diego to end the wild finish in overtime.
Shayne Jackson recorded 6 points (2G, 6A), while Seth Oakes took away a 4-goal game with 7 points in San Diego.
After playing against San Diego, the Swarm traveled to Fort Worth, Texas for their second match of the season against Panther City on that Sunday. It was the third time the two teams had faced each other. The Swarm won their last encounter on January 6th, 2024, with a score of 12-10. However, in their latest match, Panther City made an impressive comeback and won the game 10-9 after initially trailing by three goals.
In the game, Panther City scored right off the opening face-off and scored six out of their ten goals in the first half. Swarm managed to score three goals in the first half, one from Zach Miller and two from Lyle Thompson.
During the second and third quarters, Swarm faced strong defensive play from Brett Dobson, who made 27 saves at net. Swarm managed to score only one goal in the second quarter, which was scored by Mike Manely, his first goal of the season. In the third quarter, Bryan Cole took a pass from Shayne Jackson and scored a goal. Brett Dobson made a save and transitioned it down to Jeff Henrick, who got a transition goal shot.
As we headed into the 4th quarter, the Swarm and Panthers were tied at six goals each. Andrew Kew scored back-to-back goals for the Swarm, giving them the biggest lead of the night. On a power play, Callum Crawford scored a goal for the Panthers. Lyle Thompson scored another goal in transition from Seth Oakes and John Rangan, making it his hat trick with three goals and two assists.
In the final two minutes of the game, Panther City had a three-goal run, with the last goal scored with just 40 seconds left. This put the Panthers ahead by one, with a score of 10-9. The Swarm raced against the clock, shooting at the net. Seth Oakes took a shot above the crease and scored, which would have tied the game, but it was later waved off by NLL officials. The rules weren’t clarified by the officials, leaving many confused that night. The goal was waved off because Oakes had rolled through the crease on his first attempt shot. Therefore, he couldn’t take the first pass, which was signaled by officials. This left the Swarm with no goal at the end, trailing by one in a heart-felt end.
