Riptide Lose to Thunderbirds 14-6 at Home
December 17, 2023 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
New York Riptide News Release
The New York Riptide and the Halifax Thunderbirds matched up with each other in Uniondale, New York on Saturday December 16th. The Riptide entered the game with a 0-1 record after losing their season opener against the Philadelphia Wings, 13-10. Halifax entered this game 1-0 after they won their first game of the year at home against the Rush.
The Riptide were the first to strike, capitalizing on a well-designed hidden ball trick from Connor Kearnan. Connor Kearnan and Reilly O'Connor duped the Thunderbirds defense, netting a half field goal only 22 seconds into the contest. Halifax dominated the remainder of the quarter, ending the opening stanza on a 5-1 run from 5 different scorers.
The second quarter was predominantly dominated by goaltending, with New York's Cameron Dunkerley and Halifax's Warren Hill maintaining their clean sheet for the first eleven minutes. Towards the quarter's conclusion, Ryan Terefenko and Jeff Teat both scored for their respective teams. Jeff Teat's goal came off an assist from John LaFontaine, which was the 100th point of his career. As both teams were getting ready for halftime, Halifax got two more goals with under 17 seconds to play to extend their lead to five goals at halftime.
Cody Jameison continued his team's domination, scoring his third goal just 30 seconds into the quarter, extending the Thunderbirds' lead to 6 goals. Both teams traded goals the rest of the way in the third quarter with Halifax ending the penultimate period leading by six goals. Randy Staats, who returned from the IR this week, scored his third goal of the game in the third quarter to complete his own hat-trick. Kiel Matisz also notched his third goal of the night, marking his first hat-trick in a Riptide uniform.
The Riptide coaching staff chose not to dwell on the negative aspects of their performance against Halifax, instead choosing to accentuate the positives. "I think 5 on 5 we were competing, penalty trouble and transition hurt us. We game planned for that, but just did not execute." Said coach Dan Ladoceur. Team captain Reilly O'Connor echoed the message from Dan Ladouceur while acknowledging there is more work to do. "It just comes down to continuing to believe and continuing to work and execute on our game plan." The Riptide will have two weeks before their next contest to figure out how to stop this two-game slide.
On December 29th and 30th, both the Halifax Thunderbirds and New York Riptide will return to action after a weekend off. Halifax will return home on December 29th to play the Philadelphia Wings, who defeated the Riptide in their season opener. The Riptide will play their first away game of the season when they travel to Toronto to play the Rock on December 30th at 4:00 PM. Following Saturday night's result, The Halifax Thunderbirds now sit atop the NLL standing at 2-0, while the Riptide fall to last place after the defeat.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from December 17, 2023
- Riptide Lose to Thunderbirds 14-6 at Home - New York Riptide
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- Thunderbirds Overwhelm Riptide to Stay Undefeated - Halifax Thunderbirds
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