The Victoria Shamrocks officially waved goodbye to first place overall on Saturday night, dropping a 9-8 decision to the Langley Thunder in Western Lacrosse Association play.
Langley鈥檚 victory leaves the Thunder with an 11-3-2 mark for 24 points with two games to go in the regular season.
Victoria slips to 10-7 for 20 points with just one game remaining, slated for Friday at home against the Nanaimo Timbermen.
The Shamrocks also lost the head-to-head seasonal series to the two-time defending champion Thunder, winning the first but losing the final two.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a game for placings,鈥� Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes said before the game. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l be ready to play, and I鈥檓 sure they want to lock up first, but everybody is scrapping for those No. 2 to 4 [playoff] spots.鈥�
With the loss, Victoria remains two points ahead of the Burnaby Lakers (9-7), who now have a game in hand on the Shamrocks and have won that seasonal series 2-1. If those two teams finished tied, Burnaby would get the home-court nod. So the Langley game was an important one for the Shamrocks.
鈥淟angley plays a similar defence to us, that pressure defence, so I think we need to be able to break it down, like some teams do to us,鈥� Heyes said beforehand. 鈥淲e need to take what they give us, but also exploit that defence.
鈥淓nough of these guys play this type of defence in the pro league, and because we practise against it all the time, it should be better suited to us to break it down.
鈥淥ur offence and special teams have to be better, too. That鈥檚 what creates the momentum.鈥�
They scored four power-play goals, but fell behind 5-3 and 6-5 by periods.
Athan Iannucci led the Thunder with three goals in the win. Kyle Belton, Scott Johnston, Adam Jones, Nik Bilic, Shayne Jackson and Mark Matthews also scored for the victors.
Corey Small and Cory Conway, with two goals each, led the charge for Victoria, which had won 15-6 over New Westminster the previous night. Scott Ranger, Dan MacRae, Karsen Leung and Tyler Hass also scored for the Shamrocks.
鈥淚t was a confidence builder [Friday],鈥� Heyes said. 鈥淭he transition game is part of what gets us going. Karsen [Leung] was a key to that. He was in beast mode against New West, a kid possessed.
鈥淸Goaltender] Matt Vinc was good, too. We got down 2-0, but he shut the door the rest of the game.鈥�
He couldn鈥檛 come up with the win on Saturday, though, and is now 3-4 since joining Victoria.
