In a matchup of the League’s top offense against the second-ranked defense, scoring prevailed. The Colorado Mammoth (8-7) lost its first game of the season against an East Division opponent, falling 21-13 to the Georgia Swarm (9-4) at Infinite Energy Arena. The team’s previous season-high for goals allowed was 15.
The Swarm took a 10-6 lead late in the second quarter, only to see the Mammoth respond with two goals just before intermission. When the teams returned to the floor for the third quarter, Georgia seized control. The Swarm scored five goals in the first four minutes, 17 seconds and never looked back. Georgia’s Lyle Thompson, who had a game-high 11 points, scored three of the five tallies during the run.
Forward Zack Greer had four goals, his most with Colorado. He had another taken off the board upon review as a teammate was in the crease.
“No excuses – we just weren’t good enough top to bottom,” said Greer. “We need to bounce back and make sure we learn from it and get better moving forward.”
Defenseman Brad Self, who was acquired from Buffalo at the trade deadline on Monday, had a goal and two assists. Callum Crawford led the Mammoth with seven points (3g, 4a).
Mammoth goaltender Dillon Ward, who entered the game with an NLL-best .804 save percentage, allowed a season-high 15 goals. He was replaced in the third by Alex Buque, who logged 26 minutes in relief.
Colorado has its lone bye of the season next weekend before hosting the Rochester Knighthawks (5-9) on Saturday, April 15. The Knighthawks have a bye next week as well.
Featured Image Credit: Georgia Swarm, Paul Sasso, MV Photo Concepts