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Swarm Comes up Short in Buffalo 13-10

March 17, 2012 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Minnesota Swarm News Release


BUFFALO, NY. - The National Lacrosse League's (NLL) Minnesota Swarm (5-4) fell short to the Buffalo Bandits (4-6) 13-10 at First Niagara Center on Saturday night.

Forward Ryan Benesch (2g, 3a) and rookie T Jordan MacIntosh (1g, 4a) led Minnesota with five points apiece and rookie F Pat Smith scored two goals in his NLL debut. The Swarm selected Smith in the fourth round (31st overall) of the 2011 NLL Entry Draft.

Bandits F John Tavares led the winning squad with three goals and recorded his 1,600th career point in the NLL - the most of any player in league history.

Callum Crawford (2g, 2a) scored both of his goals in the third quarter in part of a 4-0 Swarm run to cut a six-goal halftime deficit to 9-7 at the end of the quarter. The Bandits however opened the fourth quarter with goals from F Kevin Buchanan (1g, 1a) and Tavares to extend their lead back to 11-7. Benesch added the Swarm's fourth power play goal at the time to cut the deficit back to three with 7:43 to play. Forward Jay Card (1g, 3a) then found the back of the net three minutes later on another power play goal to once again cut the Bandits' lead to two at 11-9 with fewer than five minutes to play.

Bandits D Scott Self (2g) closed the door on a Swarm comeback with 1:12 remaining with his second goal of the night.

At the night's end, Benesch finished two goals shy of becoming the third player in team history to surpass the 100-goal mark in a Swarm uniform.

Swarm goalie Evan Kirk (2-1) collected his first career loss in the NLL after stopping 35 of 48 shots in a complete game. Bandits G Mike Thompson made 38 saves and recorded his second straight win to improve to 4-2 on the season.

Rookie forward Josh Gillam also made his NLL debut on Saturday night and recorded an assist and collected two loose balls. The Swarm selected the lefty from Dartmouth in the second round (18th overall) of the 2010 NLL Entry Draft. After missing the last seven games due to injury, 2011 All-Rookie team member T Tyler Hass returned to the lineup and collected three loose balls.

Also scoring for Minnesota on Saturday night included forwards Corbyn Tao (1g, 2a) and Kevin Ross (1g). With the win, Buffalo managed to split the season series with Minnesota 1-1.

Minnesota wraps up its four-game road trip next Sunday against the Washington Stealth (3-7) at 7 p.m. CT.

Join Callum Crawford, who holds a Swarm record for most points in a single season (96), for a chat session on Twitter next Tuesday, March 20 at 12:15 p.m. CT. To participate in the chat, fans should follow the Minnesota Swarm's official Twitter handle, @Minnesota_Swarm, and then submit questions using the #HiveChat hashtag.

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