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Swarm fall on the road to Buffalo Friday night by a score of 15-12

January 30, 2015 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Minnesota Swarm News Release


BUFFALO, N.Y. - A late comeback was not enough for the Minnesota Swarm (2-2) as the Buffalo Bandits (3-2) took the lead early and never looked back, winning 15-12 at First Niagara Center Friday night. Minnesota went 2-1 on its three-game road trip with wins over both Edmonton and New England earlier in January.

The first few minutes of the game were close as Minnesota built an early 2-1 lead but late in the quarter, Buffalo went on a 10-1 scoring run to close out the first half and led 11-3 at the midway point. Minnesota owned the second half outscoring Buffalo 9-4 but could not manage to close the gap enough to overcome the Bandits.

Majority of the scoring for the Swarm came from forwards Callum Crawford (2g, 6a), Shayne Jackson (2g, 2a), Miles Thompson (2g, 1a) and Logan Schuss (2g, 3a). Crawford's eight points added to his team leading 29 points (10g, 19a) on the season.

"We're not happy with the loss but we're happy with the way the guys battled in the second half and hopefully we can build from that," Swarm assistant coach Aime Caines said.

Resiliency and a never give up attitude have been major factors in the Swarm's season so far and it was present once again against the Bandits. Facing a 12-3 deficit at one point in the third quarter, Minnesota kept fighting and answered back with a four-goal scoring run.

"I give the guys a lot of respect, we never gave up and we fought right to the last whistle," Caines said. "All the things we did in the second half, those are the things we want to improve on for a full 60 minutes."

Even after having two goals waved off due to crease violations, Minnesota kept at it and chipped away at the Bandits lead. Swarm goaltender Zach Higgins made the start in net and was relieved part way through the second quarter by Brodie MacDonald. Macdonald's stay in net was short however, with Higgins coming back into the game three minutes later. Higgins made 39 saves in the game.

Now with the road trip finished, the Swarm can head back home for a two-game homestand against Rochester (Feb. 6) and Toronto (Feb. 13). Minnesota then heads to Toronto for a back-to-back series on Feb. 14.

For the first time in his NLL career, Thompson played against his older brother, Jerome, who was one of the leading scorers for the Bandits. Jerome Thompson (4g, 1a), Mark Steenhuis (3g, 4a), Chad Culp (1g, 3a), and Ryan Benesch (3g, 2a) led the Bandits in scoring.

"It's tough to play three-straight on the road so we're looking forward to being at home again in front of our home crowd, and get that boost and that energy from our crowd," Caines said. "It's going to be a great welcome home for us."

The Swarm will return to Ho-Chunk Nation field at Xcel Energy Center on Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. CT to face the Rochester Knighthawks for Native American Heritage Night. The first 5,000 fans will receive a Swarm cowbell courtesy of Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin. The Swarm is proud to announce that 50-percent of all new season ticket revenue -- all purchases between Jan. 3 to Feb. 5 -- will be donated to Make-A-Wish Minnesota. This special offer can be found online by visiting www.mnswarm.com/seasontickets or by calling 1-888-MN-SWARM.

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