Orlin & Cohen Postgame Report: Riptide Defeat Toronto Rock 14-13 At Home

Uniondale, NY – Jeff Teat scored seven points and Steven Orleman finished with 30 saves as the New York Riptide (2-7) defeated the Toronto Rock (6-4) 14-13 at Nassau Coliseum to earn their first home victory of the season.

“It’s amazing. It feels really good to win at home and it’s something that we’ve been chasing since day one,” Riptide head coach Dan Ladouceur said. “Always wanted to win here on the Island for the fans and the organization, so getting that first one is really important for us. And we did it with a bit of a broken roster and we did it with some adversity, so it was really rewarding.”

Teat led the way for the Riptide with seven points on four goals and three assists, Callum Crawford finished the game with six points on four goals and two assists, and Damon Edwards scored a pair of goals and added an assist.

The Rock jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but the Riptide rallied back on a pair of goals from Connor Kearnan and Edwards to close the first frame tied at two. The teams traded goals as Edwards scored his second of the game, and Crawford scored to earn his 1100^th career point and tie the game at 4-4. Crawford became the 10^thNLL player in league history to achieve 1100 points in his career. As the teams continued to trade goals, Teat would score his first of the game before Crawford scored the next two for the Riptide. Toronto scored to end the half but the Riptide held the lead at 8-7.

New York got out to a fast start as Jake Fox opened up the second half scoring just 1:01 in. Later in the quarter Teat would assist on a goal from Kieran McArdle, before scoring his third of the game. Two late goals from the Rock it made it an 11-10 Riptide game heading into the final quarter.

In the final frame, the Riptide opened up the scoring with two goals from Tyson Gibson and Crawford to take a 13-10 lead. The Rock rallied to tie the game at 13-13 with three goals in just 2:09. With 1:51 left in the game, Teat scored the game winning goal on an assist from Edwards.

The Riptide will head back out on the road next weekend to take on the Toronto Rock in the second half of this home-and-home series on Saturday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton,ON. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+, and listen to on WRHU 88.7 FM, WRHU.org and the WRHU iPhone App. Live stats and periodic in-game updates will be available via Twitter @NewYorkRiptide.