The Toronto Rock were within four seconds of taking over first place from the Georgia Swarm in the National Lacrosse League.
But the Swarm had an answer for Toronto — two of them. Georgia’s Shayne Jackson scored with 3.2 seconds left to tie a back-and-forth game 12-12. And Johnny Powless found the back of the net 46 seconds into overtime to give the Swarm a 13-12 win at the Air Canada Centre.
Georgia improved to an East-leading and NLL-best 6-1, while Toronto fell to 4-2.
“It was a game you want to come out of on the right side of, but we didn’t, and that’s disappointing,” Rock head coach Matt Sawyer said. “We’re bound to face some adversity in the season, this is our first real test of it.
“We have to have a real short memory and forget about what happened tonight and bounce back in a big one (Sunday) night in Rochester.”
The Rock built a 5-2 lead in the first quarter, with Tom Schreiber scoring once and assisting on the other four goals. But Georgia plugged away at the lead, eventually tying the game 7-7 in the seventh minute of the third quarter and taking an 11-10 lead 15 minutes later.
Toronto goaltender Nick Rose was at his best in the fourth quarter, making 18 of his 49 saves in the period and allowing the Rock to regain the lead.
But Jackson, on the power play and with an extra attacker, and Powless scored on the Swarm’s final two chances.
Georgia’s Lyle Thompson gave the Rock fits most of the night, finishing with a goal and eight assists. Miles Thompson scored three times for the Swarm, while Jackson and Powless had two each.
Kieran McArdle scored three times for the Rock. Schreiber finished with six points.
Toronto visits Rochester (2-4) on Sunday. The two teams have split their first two meetings this season, with the Rock winning 12-5 in Rochester in late December and the Knighthawks winning 9-8 in Toronto in late January.
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