NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Panther City Lacrosse Club

Panther City Lacrosse Club Loses 14-8 to Vancouver

December 11, 2021 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Panther City Lacrosse Club News Release


The Panther City Lacrosse Club (0-2) lost to the Vancouver Warriors (2-0), 14 - 8, in the first ever game at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Friday night.

The first goal for Panther City at Dickies Arena was scored by forward Phil Caputo with 9:12 remaining in the first quarter. Forward Mike Triolo led the club in scoring, notching two goals on the night to give him three on the season. He added three assists to lead the team with five points, followed by veteran forward Ryan Benesch, who finished with a goal and two assists.

Vancouver was led by Keegan Bal, who netted a team-high three goals and five points. Goalie Alex Buque followed up on his great performance last week with another stellar performance in front of the net, allowing just eight goals on 42 attempts on net.

Panther City next faces the Colorado Mammoth on Friday, December 17, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. Faceoff is at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be live on Bally Sports Southwest and streamed on ESPN+.

Quotes-

Panther City Lacrosse Club Head Coach Tracey Kelusky:

On the team's energy tonight...

"[Vancouver] M.O. was work hard. They want to work harder than other teams and that is how we are built. All preseason, last week against Philadelphia - I thought we played well and I thought we played with a lot of urgency and we really dictated a lot of the flow of the game. Tonight, for whatever reason, the lights go on and we didn't have that same energy. We didn't have that same composure. We got off script. It was very uncharacteristic. I am not going to not give [Vancouver] credit because they played a good game, but on the flip side of it that was our worse one since we have been together. I think at times guys were trying to do a bit too much. Sometimes in this league, less is more. Again, I get back to the point of getting off script. We didn't capitalize. We didn't do any of the things we wanted to do on the offensive side and on the defensive side. There were times, yes, but we didn't stick with the process, which is what we talk about all the time."

On if the team being an expansion team is a factor that works against them...

"It does to a degree. You want to play off one another nuances. The more you play with guys, the more comfortable they are. It is part of our process as well. We talk about trusting the guy beside you. Especially on the defensive side of the ball where you are on an island if you are not trusting your teammate. If you are on a two-man or a three-man side you need to have that support. You get yourself into a bit of a hole and right, wrong or indifferent, I think guys may have been trying too hard. Back to the adage of less is more, guys just need to trust the process. Trust what we are trying to do and identify who we are playing and what their strengths are and then go play based on our system. Again, very uncharacteristic of us, because I haven't seen that yet where we come completely off script and for lack of a better of a term, pushing on a pull door."

On what fans can come to expect of this team...

"The fans were unbelievable. For our first home game and for people that haven't seen this game - the support we had was unbelievable. I think there was portions of that game where we were dominant and we really played to our strengths. Defensively, we were double teaming the ball. We were causing turnovers. We were running up the floor and we were running up the floor and manufacturing good shots by playing with speed and playing with athleticism. That is the group we have. For whatever reason the lights went on tonight and we didn't have that. For the fans... that is what they can expect. It is a process. We have to drill it into our guys, no different than a group that has been together 10 years or five years. We are new. We are going to make some mistakes, but our message is every time you get on the floor you are going to get better and we can be a whole lot better than we were tonight."

On the goalie change at half...

"I debated doing it at seven and no offense [Nick Damude]. I thought he played good. I thought he made some real good stops. You look at some of the goals that were against him. Four breakaways in a row. It was just trying to spark our guys a little bit and spark some momentum a little bit. Orley [Kevin Orleman] did a fantastic job."

Panther City Lacrosse Club Mike Triolo (Forward, #16):

On the slow start...

"We talked about it in the room after and it was just coming ready. Our warmups seemed lackadaisable and we were just slow from the start and in this league you can take five minutes off and the whole lead goes away. We battled back in the second but sometimes too little too late and sometimes you make that play but tonight we didn't have it."

On the intensity...

"That's lacrosse. First game there was stuff like that but not as chippy. Tonight there was a little bit of a rivalry and more west coast vibes. Definitely some scores to settle too. We've got a couple more times out there too so its going to keep getting chippy."

On the goalie change...

"We have absolute faith in both goalies. Sometimes its just getting a different look on the back end, a different voice, sometimes that makes all the difference. Nothing wrong with putting Nick in. There were six transition goals and that's on the offense and then three power play goals for them and that's just mental mistakes. Nothing is on Nicky there and we have absolute faith in both of them. When Kevin goes in, we have faith in him too. We are happy to have both."

On individual performance...

"That's all I want- Ill do whatever the team needs, but hopefully when I chip in like that we can come out on top. Its really about the team thought. If I go zeroes and we win that game, I'll take that every day of the week."

Check out the Panther City Lacrosse Club Statistics

• Discuss this story on the National Lacrosse League message board...

National Lacrosse League Stories from December 11, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central