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Power vs. Bandits

March 23, 2002 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Washington Power News Release


Saturday March 23, 2002—The Washington Power faced off against the Buffalo Bandits in their final regular season game before heading into the play-offs next week. The game also marked the final game for legend Paul Gait who is retiring from the NLL after this season.

Kip Fulks (3 goals) got the game started with an unassisted goal at 13:55 followed by a goal from teammate Matt Shearer (6 goals, 3 assists) at 13:00 to give the Power a 2-0 lead. Buffalo responded with their first goal at 12:07 and then followed it up with another goal at 11:29 to tie the game at two apiece. The Bandits netted another goal to take a 3-2 lead, but the Power's Fulks scored his second goal of the game to tie the score at three, followed by a goal from Paul Gait (4 goals, 7 assists) to give the Power the lead once again. Matt Shearer gave the Power a two-goal advantage with 2:30 remaining in the quarter by netting his second goal of the game. Buffalo scored the last goal of the quarter at 1:50 to make the score 5-4 Power.

The Power opened the second quarter with a goal off a power play by Matt Shearer followed by another power play goal by Paul Gait, giving the Power a 7-5 lead. The Bandits responded with a goal, cutting their deficit to one, but Jeff Wills (2 goals, 3 assists) netted his first goal of the game giving the Power an 8-6 advantage with 10:43 remaining. After this goal, Buffalo seemed to wake up, scoring three unanswered goals, tying the game at eight. Gary Gait (3 goals, 9 assists) responded with his first goal of the game to give the Power a one-goal advantage but the Bandits again came back scoring two quick goals to take a 10-9 lead with 4:10 left in the half. Buffalo followed this burst up with another goal at 2:35 giving them a two-goal lead. The Power responded by pulling goalie Devin Dalep (24 saves), which allowed Matt Shearer to score goal number ten for Washington. However, the Bandits were not through and managed to score a goal with :15 remaining to take a 12-10 lead heading into the locker room.

Del Halladay (1 goal, 4 assists) got the second half going for the Power with a goal off a power play at 14:24. The Bandits followed up by notching two goals to give them a 14-11 advantage with 10:17 remaining in the quarter. The Power picked their play up and scored back-to-back goals from Paul Gait and Paul Cantabene (2 goals, 1 assist) to bring the score within one. The Bandits scored goal number fifteen at 9:00 but Jeff Wills notched his second goal of the game to close the gap to one. Washington's Kip Fulks tied the score with 5:29 left in the quarter at fifteen apiece. After a questionable penalty against Washington's John Rosa (1 goal, 2 assists), the Bandits were able to capitalize on the resulting power play, making the score 16-15 Buffalo. The Gait brothers tied the game again with a goal by Paul from Gary at 3:30. Buffalo netted its seventeenth goal off a fast break but the Power tied the game once again off a power play goal by Matt Shearer with 2:54 left in the third. The Bandits found the back of the net with just :10 left to give them an 18-17 lead going into the final quarter of play.

Washington's Paul Cantabene tied the game at eighteen with 13:08 remaining followed by a goal from Gary Gait just nineteen seconds later to give the Power a 19-18 lead. After a break in the scoring, Washington's Gary Gait got things going again with goal number twenty at 8:03 followed by goal number twenty-two from Matt Shearer at 7:22, giving the Power a 21-18 lead. Defenders Hugh Donovan (2 assists) and John Rosa tallied goal twenty-two for the Power after Donovan intercepted a pass on the defensive end and hit Rosa streaking down the field who scored one-on-one against the Buffalo goalie. Despite being dominated by the Power in the beginning of the quarter, Buffalo managed an incredible come back and went on the win the game. They began their run by scoring their first goal of the quarter with 3:40 remaining making the score 22-19. They followed that up with two quick goals cutting the Power lead to one with 1:01 remaining in the game. The Bandits continued to fight and managed to tie the game with :49 left in regulation and then went on to win the game by scoring with just :10 left to play.

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