NLL Week 7: Fourth-Quarter Magic Galore

Keegan Bal had himself a Friday night.

Well, he had himself a half. Actually, a quarter. The fourth quarter.

Bal, held scoreless through the first three quarters of a low-scoring affair between his Vancouver Warriors and the San Diego Seals, deposited six goals in the final 15 minutes. He scored the go-ahead goal with 1:08 to play and then some insurance with 14 seconds left, making him just the fourth player in National Lacrosse League history to record a sock trick in one quarter.

Talk about a heat check.

Bal’s seven points led all players in Vancouver’s 11-9 win. Bal doubled his season goals total to 12 and is tops on the Warriors with 19 points through four games. His 12 goals are tied for 19th in the league.

BUFFALO’S FOURTH-QUARTER MAGIC

Buffalo didn’t have a Bal-like performance in the fourth quarter in week seven, but a team effort produced the same result.

Entering the final quarter down a goal and still facing a one-goal deficit with 5:31 to go after some back and forth to open the stanza, Buffalo scored the last three goals in the final 73 seconds. Chase Fraser tied it, then Nick Weiss delivered the go-ahead goal and Dhane Smith iced it with eight seconds left, giving the Bandits a 15-13 win.

Ian Mackay led all scorers with five goals for Buffalo, while Smith posted eight assists and 10 points (both game highs).

Despite the valiant effort against an NLL contender, Toronto remains the league’s only winless team at 0-5.

LAST-SECOND WINNER FOR HALIFAX

It was a wild last 10 minutes in Rochester.

Wake:Riat BowHunter put Halifax ahead by four with 10:26 to play before the wheels fell off for the Thunderbirds. The Knighthawks deposited four in a row, including the tying strike by Curtis Knight with 54 seconds left.

With all momentum lost, Halifax leaned on its star. Clarke Petterson bounced off contact, moved from in front of the cage just to the right and buried an overhand goal for the winner as time expired, giving the Thunderbirds a 19-18 win.

Petterson had two goals and four assists, while Randy Staats led all players with 10 points (4G, 6A).

WINGS FLY IN FOURTH

This weekend seemed to be all about fourth-quarter heroics. The Philadelphia Wings wanted in on the action, too.

Down a goal after Brayden Mayea scored for the Calgary Roughnecks, the Wings scored four in a row — one each from Holden Cattoni, Joe Resetarits, Mitch Jones and Scott Dominey.

Dominey’s goal, which came with 47 seconds left, iced a 13-11 win.

MAMMOTH STOMP FIREWOLVES IN FINAL 15

Who wants to guess when Colorado mounted its comeback? You guessed it – the fourth quarter.

Down three goals after three quarters, Colorado’s defense pitched a fourth-quarter shutout and the offense scored five times for a 15-13 win. Connor Kelly, the NLL’s leading goal scorer, added to his total with five more scores.

Albany’s Tye Kurtz, though, led all scorers with seven goals and nine points. Dillon Ward made 41 saves for Colorado.

OTTAWA GETS ABOVE .500

The Black Bears handed the Georgia Swarm their second consecutive loss (but did not need a highlight-making fourth quarter to do so).

Jacob Dunbar gave Ottawa scored the go-ahead goal with 5:43 remaining in the third quarter and scored another with eight seconds left in the period to give the Black Bears breathing room in a 14-10 win.

Jeff Teat (Ottawa) and Lyle Thompson (Georgia) each had nine points.

A FIRST-HALF RUSH

A 10-spot in the first half was enough for the Saskatchewan Rush to bury the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. Ryan Keenan scored three of his four goals in the first half, and his final goal put the Rush up 13-8 with 8:19 remaining.

Saskatchewan is now 4-1 and looks every bit the contender.