Albany wins to secure split
Thompson scores four in return to Albany but FireWolves top Swarm
It was a homecoming for former UAlbany lacrosse legend Lyle Thompson though the Albany FireWolves were in a very inhospitable mood in a rematch with Thompson and his Georgia Swarm teammates in the second half of a two-night, home-and-home series between the teams.
While the Albany defense was holding Thompson, the secondleading scorer in the National Lacrosse League in check in the first half, the FireWolves shook off a slow start and scored six unanswered goals through the first period and into the second and never trailed again, avenging a one-goal loss Friday to the Swarm with a 13-11 win in front of a crowd of 5,297 Saturday at MVP Arena.
Albany (4-3) improved its record at home to 3-1 a night after dropping a 14-13 decision to East Division rival Georgia (3-5).
“We were kind of flat. When they went up two, we needed a spark. We were in danger of that rolling downhill on us,” Albany coach Glenn Clark said. “We didn’t look good at the start.”
Thompson, a two-time Tewaaraton Trophy winner while amassing 400 career points at UAlbany, came into the game with 43 points in seven games this season and finished
with four goals and one assist.
Thompson drew a nice round of applause when introduced before the game and a video tribute was presented in his honor, including a message from UAlbany coach Scott Marr.
“I was happy to be back in Albany, a quick trip coming from Atlanta and playing last night, kind of a doubleheader,” Thompson said. “I’m happy to be back, it is always a joy to be here and play in front of a crowd that I call home.”
Trailing 2-0 with just more than four minutes elapsed in the first quarter, the FireWolves finally got the offense rolling as Tanner Thomson scored on the power play and Joe Resetarits tied the game at 2 at the 11-minute, 45second mark before Reilly O’Connor got involved.
O’Connor scored a pair of goals 30 seconds apart and after teammate Adrian Sorichetti scored in the final minute of the first quarter, O’Connor got the hat trick 18 seconds into the second quarter to give Albany a 6-2 lead.
“He (O’Connor) is an understated player, he doesn’t have to score to be effective for our offense,” Clark said. “He creates space, balances the floor, judging tempo and clock awareness, he does a lot of good things to make our offense work. He is an active player, and a lot of his goals were off his activity.”
Georgia staged a pair of second-half rallies, cutting the lead to a goal twice before the FireWolves responded.
Late in the fourth quarter, Georgia cut the deficit to a goal at 11-10 but Albany’s Tony Malcom stripped the ball from Jordan Hall on Albany’s half of the field before racing down the field for a goal with 1:39 left to give Albany a 12-10 lead.
“We were playing a little tight there at the end,” Malcom said. “I was able to get the loose ball, ran the floor, Rese (Resetarits) was covered so I threw a little fake over to him and I saw the goalie open up a bit and was able to bury it.”
Eight seconds later, Jacob Ruest scored to give Albany a 13-10 lead.
Thompson scored his fourth of the game in the final minute.
Resetarits, who scored the 200th goal of his career in the first quarter, finished with five assists while teammate Ryan Benesch had two goals and five assists.