The Panther City Lacrosse Club is a

box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada in the 1930s, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's officia ...

team in the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United States and five in Canada. The N ...

. They have played at

Dickies Arena Dickies Arena is a 14,000-seat multipurpose American arena, located within the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The venue hosted a public ribbon cutting on October 26, 2019. The first event held was a Twenty One Pilots concert o ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

since their inaugural 2021–2022 season.

History

On July 22, 2020, the NLL awarded an expansion franchise to the city of Fort Worth and owner Bill Cameron. It was announced that the team would begin play in the 2021–2022 season, with its home arena being Dickies Arena. The team branding was revealed on November 17, 2020, at a Dickies Arena press conference. The franchise officially became the Panther City Lacrosse Club, becoming the league's first member to use the "Lacrosse Club" moniker, similar to teams in the

Premier Lacrosse League Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is an American professional field lacrosse league, composed of 8 teams. The league's inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major-market cities. The le ...

. On January 25, 2021, former Philadelphia Wings assistant

Tracey Kelusky Tracey Kelusky (born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian former lacrosse player and current head coach of Panther City LC. Kelusky played for the Columbus Landsharks, Montreal Express, Calgary Roughnecks, Buffalo Bandits and Philadelphia Wings. Whi ...

was named the team's first head coach.

Inaugural season

Panther City debuted on December 4, 2021, against the Wings in Philadelphia. Travis Cornwall scored the first goal in franchise history as Panther City took a 1–0 lead. Despite leading 7–4 at halftime, the team could not start 1-0 as they fell to the Wings, 12–11 in overtime. A week later on December 10, the franchise played its first ever home game at Dickies Arena, where they fell to the Vancouver Warriors, 14–8 in front of 7,309 fans. After five games, Panther City got their first franchise win on January 15, 2022, on Long Island against the

New York Riptide The New York Riptide are a professional box lacrosse franchise based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the East Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). They play home games at Nassau Coliseum and began their first season in 201 ...

, 13-12 thanks to an overtime goal from rookie forward Patrick Dodds. It took a month and a half and four more tries, but Panther City notched their second win and first ever home win on February 26, 11–10, in a rematch with the Warriors in front of 4,714 fans. Again it would be Patrick Dodds providing late-game heroics with a goal with 39 seconds remaining. The next week, Panther City collected a consecutive win for the first time, and set a franchise record for goals scored with a 17–16 home overtime win over the

Saskatchewan Rush The Saskatchewan Rush are a professional box lacrosse team based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Formerly the Edmonton Rush, they are members of the Western Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and play their home games on Co-op Fie ...

. The streak would eventually climb to five games, catapulting the team back to the playoff race with a 6-8 record.Panther City slays Mammoth, 10-6
/ref> Panther City would hang in there until the penultimate week of the regular season when they lost to the Georgia Swarm. A home loss to Saskatchewan closed out the year, though Panther City still posted the best inaugural season record by an expansion team since the

San Diego Seals The San Diego Seals are a box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League. They play their home games at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. The 2018-2019 season was their inaugural season. History On August 30, 2017, the NLL awarded ...

in 2018-19.

Season-by-season record

References

External links

Official Website
{{Texas sports 2021 establishments in Texas National Lacrosse League teams Sports clubs established in 2021 Sports in Fort Worth, Texas