Chicago Shamrox Captain Mat Giles knocks the helmet off a New York Titans player.
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HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL.-The Chicago Shamrox jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead within the first four minutes of the game against the New York Titans on Saturday night.

However, Chicago’s next goal did not come until the very end of the third quarter and despite an aggressive and very effective fourth quarter attempt, the Shamrox could not overcome ten unanswered goals by New York and fell to the Titans 14-9 before 4,427 fans at the Sears Centre in National Lacrosse League action.

After spotting the Shamrox (1-4) the 1-0 lead, New York’s Jordan Hall scored for the Titans one minute later to tie the game and then gave his team a 2-1 lead by getting a diving shot past the Shamrox goaltender Brandon Miller. New York (3-4) scored two additional goals to go up 4-1 after the first quarter.

The start of the second quarter did not offer much of a band-aid to stop the bleeding. The Titans offense continued to fire away with five goals in the second stanza.

“We just got outworked, in the first half they came out running and gunning,” Chicago’s Chris Panos said. “Their goaltender was hot early and he really stymied our offense.”

Miller was pulled at the 10:47 mark of the second quarter in favor of Derek Collins. Miller’s day ended with nine saves and gave up six goals.

The final score in the second quarter by New York forward Casey Powell was a major back breaker when Powell found the back of the next with only four seconds remaining in the half to give the Titans a 9-1 lead at halftime.

“That’s embarrassing for a professional athlete,” the Shamrox Matt Giles, who led Chicago with two goals and two assists, said.

In the third quarter, Chicago held the Titans to only a single goal and finally answered when Chris Panos got a shot past Erik Miller with two minutes left in the period. Panos’ goal ignited a 5-0 run by the Shamrox that got them back into the game 10-6.Giles led the charge with two goals.

Eventually the Titans caught Derek Collins out of the goal and New York’s Jamie Hanford scored an open netter. On his way he ran through Collins and knocked him over.

New York Titans player Casey Powell makes a diving shot.
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Chicago’s Darryl Gibson took offense to that and earned major high sticking penalty for retaliating against his teammate.

Jason Clark added two more goals for the Shamrox, who closed the margin to 13-9 late in the game. Chicago outscored the Titans 7-4 in the fourth quarter, but it was too little
too late.

“(New York) capitalized off its chances and we were rusty at the start of the game,” Chicago coach Jamie Batley. “We’ve got Buffalo and Rochester next and the only good thing is that that’s who we’re fighting for (to make the playoffs).”

Pat Maddalena and Jordan Hall each scored hat tricks for the Titans.

The Shamrox return home next Sunday, February 24 to take on the Buffalo Bandits at 2:00 at the Sears Centre. During part of a four game road trip, the New York Titans travel to Rochester for a game against the Knighthawks on February 23.

Notes: Unlike in the previous two home games where it was Chicago’s Brandon Miller who had equipment problems, this time Titan goaltender Matt Vinc was penalized for two minutes with illegal equipment...Mike Hobbins and Cody Jacobs made their 2008 Shamrox debut against New York...Jacobs played with the Shamrox last season as a rookie while Hobbins was picked up as a free agent...They were put on the roster when Chicago traded Andrew Lazore and Rusty Kruger to the Buffalo Bandits for two second round draft picks in the 2008 Entry Draft...This was the fourth ever meeting between the two 2007 expansion teams, New York evened the series at 2-2 with its first ever win at the Sears Centre in three tries.