Shawn Slaght, All Lacrosse All The Time – A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network
The Panther City Lacrosse Club is starting to solidify their playoff spot in the West Division as they picked up an 11-8 win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs on Saturday night.
The win puts Panther City alone in third place in the West Division at 8-5. They sit behind Calgary at 9-4 and San Diego at 9-2. It’ll set up an interesting match-up for a playoff spot next weekend. Panther City takes on San Diego on Friday night in a game that could shape first place in the West.
It was a milestone night for Panther City’s Callum Crawford. He scored his 450th career goal, becoming only the 11th player in history to reach that accomplishment.
Rookie Jonathan Donville picked up an assist on the play for the 50th of his career. He’s only the 10th rookie to reach that accomplishment. The last rookie to do so is his teammate Patrick Dodds last year.
Meanwhile, Nick Damude picked up 35 saves off of 43 shots for the win as he continues to impress this year.
Vegas takes the early lead
Crawford got Panther City on the board first 2:12 into the game with a jump shot for his 450th career goal. Zack Greer replied right back 1:02 later to knot the game up 1-1.
Jon Phillips would then take a feed from Marshal King to give the Desert Dogs a 2-1 advantage with 6:40 on the clock.
Josh Medeiros let an underhand shot go with just under 2:30 left in the quarter that got by Vegas goaltender Landon Kells to tie it 2-2.
Jack Hannah continued to prove that field lacrosse players can make the transition to box. He scored the go-ahead goal with 1:45 left to give Vegas a 3-2 after one quarter.
PCLC pulls away in the second
Mathieu Gautier would go flighting to the net early in the second quarter to tie the game up at three. With Panther City’s Liam Byrnes in the box for checking from behind, Phillips would take a feed from Rob Hellyer on the power play to give Vegas the lead right back.
Then the wheels fell off for the Desert Dogs. Phil Caputo let a long shot go to tie the game up 4-4. Off the ensuing faceoff, Tyler Burton won the draw. He took it down the field and scored in seven seconds to make it 5-4 for Panther City.
Medeiros scored his second of the game 37 seconds later and Will Malcom rounded out the four-goal run to make it 7-4 for Panther City at halftime.
Greer to the rescue
Greer seems to have found the fountain of youth in Las Vegas. He opened the third quarter with a pair of goals to suddenly get Vegas back within one 7-6.
Gautier picked up the rebound off a Donville shot with 2:20 left in the quarter to extend PCLC’s lead to 8-6.
Las Vegas would not go away. Charlie Bertrand found the back of the net with 1:00 left on the clock to make it 8-7 in favour of the crew from Fort Worth, TX heading into the final frame.
Panther City seals the deal
Panther City put the game away early in the fourth quarter with quick goals from Caputo and Donville in the first 3:31.
Hellyer tried to regain momentum as he put one passed Damude to make it 10-8.
With Kells pulled for the extra attacker, Panther City iced the game with an empty net goal from Medeiros, assisted by Damude, with 1:04 left in the game. Panther City picked up a big win as they inch closer to a playoff spot with the final score of 11-8.
Top Scorers
Panther City
Will Malcom, 1g 5a
Jonathan Donville, 1g 4a
Josh Medeiros, 3g
Las Vegas Desert Dogs
Rob Hellyer, 1g 4a
Jon Phillips, 2g 1a
Zack Greer, 3g
Don’t forget to check us out every Sunday night at 9pm (ET)
Shawn Slaght has been a sports reporter across the Canadian prairies for over 10 years and has experience covering everything from junior hockey to World Cup skiing to all levels of lacrosse. He is the Saskatchewan correspondent for All Lacrosse All The Time.
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