Riptide Beat Bandits 15-13
January 20, 2024 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
New York Riptide News Release
The New York Riptide traveled up to Buffalo in the snow and walked out victorious after beating the Bandits 15-13. The Riptide offense was able to get to Bandits' goalie Matt Vinc early and often as the Riptide had their second-best offensive effort on the season, scoring 15 goals. The Riptide have now won two of their last three games, after dropping the first three games of the season. Jeff Teat and the Riptide will look to continue their momentum and make it two straight wins in their next contest against Georgia on January 27th. Buffalo will fall back in the standings after this loss, as their schedule does not get much easier from here. The Bandits' next game will be away in Toronto against the undefeated Toronto Rock.
The fireworks started right off the opening faceoff as Mitch Wilde kicked off the scoring just over one minute into the game. Chase Fraser started this game out very well, scoring the game's second and third goal to give Buffalo the lead after the Riptide struck first. The remainder of the quarter continued to be back and forth with the opening stanza ending tied at 3-3.
The second quarter was a dominant effort from the Riptide as their offense was clicking on all cylinders. The Riptide scored eight goals in the second quarter, forcing the Bandits coaching staff to pull their always reliable starting goalie, Matt Vinc. Jeff Teat caught fire in the second quarter adding three goals on his own along with three more assists, as he finished the night with 10 points. The Riptide scored the first 7 goals of the second quarter to build a big lead and go into halftime up 11-6.
After a dominant first-half effort from New York, Buffalo began to chip away in the third quarter, cutting the Riptide's lead down to three goals at the completion of the third quarter. After getting pulled in the first half, Matt Vinc came back into the ball game and played a much better second half, only allowing four goals after having some time to think about it on the bench.
The Bandits continued to fight back in the contest, scoring three straight goals in the fourth quarter to tie the game up with just over two minutes to go. Just 22 seconds after the Bandits had tied the game for the first time since the first quarter, Jeff Teat scored his fourth goal of the game, which ended up being the Game Winner.
This win for the Riptide is one of the biggest wins in franchise history, over the reigning NLL champions. The Bandits put up a strong comeback bid, but the Riptide were able to do just enough to get the job done. Larson Sundown knew his team's performance and response to the Bandits' run would dictate the outcome of this game. "It's all about us. Obviously, everyone is going to go on runs and it's up to us to weather the storm." And that is just what the Riptide did, doing just enough to escape Buffalo with the big upset victory.
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