Rochester, New York (Jan. 7, 2022) – The Panther City Lacrosse Club (2-3) fell to the undefeated Rochester Knighthawks (4-0),17-9, Saturday evening at the Blue Cross Arena. Panther City fell behind 5-2 after the first quarter and was never able to recover as Rochester had 50 shots on goal for the evening. Rookie forward Jonathan Donvillehad his best game of his young career as he registered his first career hat trick and also dished out three assists for a total of six points. His three goals were a team high and three assists tied for the team high with forward Will Malcom. Malcom has now recorded at least one point in every game he has appeared in with Panther City.
Forwards Nathan Grenon and Dean Fairall each recorded 2 goals tonight and Fairall had a game-high 13 loose balls. Goalie Cam MacLeod saw his first extended action in the NLL in relief of Nick Damude and made 29 saves on 41 shots. Panther City’s transition players contributed tonight as Josh Medeiros and Liam Patten each recorded a goal and fellow transition player Tony Malcom tied for second on the team with seven loose balls.
Panther City continues its five-week road trip as they head to Philadelphia for a rematch of last year’s inaugural game for Panther City as they fell in the organization’s first career game 13-12 in OT in Philadelphia. The game is scheduled for Saturday, January 14 at 6:00 p.m. CT and will be broadcasted locally on Bally Sports Southwest and streamed everywhere on ESPN+.
FORWARD JONATHAN DONVILLE QUOTES
On recording his first career hat trick…
“Yeah, it feels good. You always want to contribute to the team and not everyone’s job is to score, but in a big way my job is to score. Good to see it go in the net after a couple bounces, but it doesn’t really matter if you lose. It is all the same. Frustrating night for us. We didn’t get too many bounces and we will look to bounce back next week.”
On if this game will open up the scoring opportunities for him for the rest of the season…
“I hope so. When you think you turn the corner that is when you get knocked down again. Trying to have the best effort I can day-to-day. Certainly, I know over the years there are times when the ball is going in and times when it is not going in. You try to enjoy it when you can and work out of it when it is not working for you. I try to be a balanced player the best I can and hope the ball keeps going in for myself and teammates.”
On how to jump start the offense…
“Try to trust in each other and sometimes you have to keep shooting. [Rochester goalie] Rylan Hartley I thought was outstanding tonight – a guy I have played with in the past. He was phenomenal. Every goalie in this league is phenomenal, so you have to try to do what you can throughout the week and make sure you are personally ready to go and try to hit your shots the best you can and play the best team offense that you can as a group.”
On the message for the team as they head to Philadelphia next weekend…
“Shake it off as quickly as we can. Learn from this. Learn from the last couple weeks. We got punched in the mouth here after two wins to open the season. We will learn from it, do what we can and prepare and go into a tough building and [face] a really good Philly team and put out our best effort and be proud of our effort.”
