Fort Worth, TX – The Albany FireWolves (10-7) were beaten 11-7 on the road by the Panther City Lacrosse Club (9-8) in a game that Panther City controlled from the start at Dickies Arena.
With only a few games remaining in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) regular season, this game was crucial for both teams as they near the NLL playoffs. Albany has already clinched a playoff spot, but still seeks a home playoff game and Panther City needed a win for a much better chance at securing their postseason berth.
Ethan Walker and Sam Firth led the FireWolves offensively with an identical stat line of 3 pts (1g, 2a). Scoring was rounded out by John Piatelli with 2 goals and Alex Simmons, Patrick Kaschalk, and Nathan Grenon each scored 1 goal. Doug Jamieson made 30 saves on 40 shots and Joe Nardella was strong in the faceoff circle winning 19 of 22 faceoffs as well as scooping up 10 loose balls.
Panther City came ready to play as they controlled the pace of play in the first quarter with transition opportunities and good scoring chances to go up 4-0 and shut out the FireWolves in the first quarter.
The pace continued as Panther City scored two more quick goals to start the second quarter as they took a 6-0 lead. The FireWolves got on a run of their own as Kaschalk broke the ice with a great twister shot on a breakaway to bring the score to 6-1. Soon after, Simmons walked his way in and fired a sneaky shot to make it 6-2. A few minutes later Walker got a good pick to be able to come over the top and sting a shot to the low corner to close the gap to 6-3. Then, Piatelli was in the right place at the right time as he scooped up a ball in front and scored to make it 6-4. The FireWolves were able to weather the early rush by Panther City to bring the score to 6-4 at halftime.
Coming out of halftime, it would be Panther City who scored first again as they extended their lead to 7-4 two minutes into the third quarter. Albany responded as Firth got open and scored to bring it to 7-5. Both goalies and defenses stood tall for the rest of the quarter as the score would remain 7-5 heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Panther City went on another big scoring run that saw them score four straight goals to grow their lead to 11-5, which would prove to be too much for the FireWolves to overcome. Piatelli and Grenon would score goals in the final minute for Albany, but would ultimately fall to Panther City 11-7.
Next up for the FireWolves is their last regular season game as they travel to play at the Nassau Coliseum to face the New York Riptide on Saturday, April 20 at 7:30 pm. A win would potentially secure them a home playoff game and a higher seed in the NLL playoffs.
About Albany FireWolves
The Albany FireWolves is the Capital Region’s very own Professional Box Lacrosse team, playing in the National Lacrosse League out of the MVP Arena in downtown Albany, NY. For more information, contact the Albany FireWolves Front Office at (518) 362-4900 or visit AlbanyFireWolves.com. Follow the team on Facebook at facebook.com/AlbFireWolves, Twitter @AlbFireWolves, and Instagram @AlbFireWolves.
About the National Lacrosse League
The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is North America’s premier professional lacrosse league. Founded in 1986, the NLL ranks third in average attendance for pro indoor sports worldwide, behind only the NHL and NBA. The League is comprised of 15 franchises across the United States and Canada: Albany FireWolves, Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Georgia Swarm, Halifax Thunderbirds, Las Vegas Desert Dogs, New York Riptide, Panther City Lacrosse Club (TX), Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, Toronto Rock, and Vancouver Warriors. For more information, visit NLL.com and find @NLL on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About MVP Arena
MVP Arena is a full-service entertainment and sports facility featuring a wide variety of family shows, sporting events, trade shows and concerts. Owned by Albany County and managed by ASM Global, MVP Arena opened in 1990 and is home to the Albany FireWolves of the National Lacrosse League, the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League and the Division I Men’s College Basketball Siena Saints. For more information, please visit https://www.mvparena.com/
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
