NLL Panther City Lacrosse Club

Panther City Lacrosse Club Falls to Toronto Rock

Published on December 23, 2023 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Panther City Lacrosse Club News Release


FORT WORTH, TX - The Panther City Lacrosse Club fell to the Toronto Rock, 13-10, Friday evening at Dickies Arena in what was the first ever matchup between the two teams. It was a game of runs, as Toronto had four unanswered goals in the second quarter, followed by five unanswered goals by Panther City in the fourth quarter, but another four consecutive goals by Toronto to end the game sealed the deal for the visitors.

Mark Matthews led the way for the Rock as he recorded six points (3G/3A), including two goals within 21 seconds of one another late in the fourth quarter to start the run that propelled the Rock to the win. Righty Chris Boushy also added a hat trick and finished the evening with four points (3G/1A). Goalie Nick Rose stopped 43 of the 53 shots he faced on the evening.

Panther City was led by Will Malcom who recorded his first multi-goal game of the '23-'24 season as he finished with five points (2G/3A). Panther City's leading point scorers entering the game, forwards Callum Crawford and Jonathan Donville both finished with four points (1G/3A) and both now have 15 points on the season through three games.

A bright spot for Panther City was the play on the man advantage as they finished the game 3-4 on the power play with power play goals scored by Phil Caputo, Evan Messenger and Mathieu Gautier. It was Caputo's 22nd power play goal in his three seasons with Panther City, which leads the team. Panther City is now 7-10 (70%) on the season on the man advantage after entering tonight's contest with the second-best power play unit, statistically, in the NLL.

Defensively for Panther City, Matt Hossack recorded his third consecutive game forcing three turnovers, which brings his season total to 9 caused turnovers.

Panther City hits the road for four straight away games beginning January 6 at the Georgia Swarm. They return to Dickies Arena on February 9 at 8 p.m. for a nationally televised contest against the Colorado Mammoth on ESPNU.

POST GAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH TRACEY KELUSKY

On their transition game getting off to a slow start... "I think we are well scouted in that we were successful last year and even the year before that. People know that we like to run and we like to push pace. Certainly, scouted on it, but I also think that we are getting away from it. We are getting away from what has made us successful. I don't know if it guys being content or comfortable, but I thought we did a better job tonight of it on both sides of the ball. Stepping up and then pushing pace a little bit. We could have had a couple more in transition I thought, but it is definitely a step in the right direction."

On the message going forward as the team embarks on a four-game road trip... "It is one game at a time. For me, it is one game at a time. Do not look past anyone other than Georgia. We have Georgia on January 6 and that is at the forefront right now. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. Energy and emotion were way better. We just have to win more 50/50 battles. I think we should have been on the positive side and we lost a lot of the 50/50 battles, but we did a lot of really good things. The energy and emotion was much better from what is has been, even in our win against Vancouver. Tonight was great from my perspective and it is something to build off of."

FORWARD JONATHAN DONVILLE

On the power play success... "Little bit of [natural and practice]. I think we have good players, which helps obviously. Callum [Crawford] quarterbacking helps. Guys are comfortable in their spots. Some of it is luck too obviously. We had a good start here. You have to remember if it isn't going well that it goes in ebbs and flows, but it has been pretty important for us so far. You have to capitalize on those big moments and it is nice to get the one in the fourth [quarter], but we have to find a couple more plays throughout the game."

On playing Toronto for the first time... "Lacrosse is a small community so everyone knows the guys. We play against them in the summertime, so it is not like totally new players or anything like that. With the unified schedule, this is the first time this has happened this year, but it will happen a bunch of times where we play a team for the first time. It is a good test. From a scouting perspective, you are seeing some new stuff that you haven't seen before from a new group, but at the same time they are also seeing you for the first time, so there are some challenges from it that swing both ways. In general, I don't mind playing everyone in the league. It is nice see these teams sometimes. Toronto is a great group and they took it to us a little bit tonight."

On the message going forward as the team embarks on a four-game road trip... "One game at a time. That is all you can focus on. This road trip is something that we are used to. It happens every year with the rodeo [at Dickies Arena]. It is tough as you go on the road for a while, but then you know that you get a streak of home games coming after that. One game at a time, but [the mindset] is go have a good road trip and then hopefully make some hay on the back end with the home games."

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National Lacrosse League Stories from December 23, 2023


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