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Some semblance of form returned to the Western Lacrosse Association on Friday night at the Q Centre.
Two days after being on the losing end of the biggest upset of the 2017 season, the Victoria Shamrocks regrouped for an 11-5 victory before 1,875 fans.
The Shamrocks were shocked 6-5 by the last-place Thunder (2-10) on three unanswered Langley goals in the final five minutes Wednesday on the Lower Mainland.
But the Shamrocks (8-4-1) left little doubt in the rematch. The score was tied 1-1 after the first period, but an 8-1 Victoria run in the second period blew the game open.
Shamrocks star Corey Small had two goals and three assists for five points on the night to push his league-leading totals to 28 goals, 40 assists and 68 points.
鈥淥n Wednesday, we tried to get too fancy and made too many low-percentage passes and shots. That turned the ball over, and turnovers are a killer,鈥� said Small. 鈥淭onight we valued the ball and took more high-percentage opportunities.鈥�
This was the rubber match, with Victoria winning the season series against Langley 2-1.
鈥淲ednesday was a wake-up call,鈥� Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes said. 鈥淭onight, our defence was physical and sacrificed the body, while our offence played with more pace.鈥�
Victoria moved into a first-place tie with the Burnaby Lakers (8-3-1), who beat the New Westminster Salmonbellies 13-6 on Friday night. Victoria and Burnaby have 17 points each, but the Lakers retain a game in hand on the Shamrocks. The third-place Maple Ridge Burrards (8-4) are one point behind but also have a game in hand on Victoria.
The Shamrocks featured a notable debut Friday. Lanky two-way rookie Evan Messenger, Victoria鈥檚 first-round pick in the 2017 WLA draft (selected seventh overall out of the Delta Islanders juniors), was injured until this week. The Vancouver Stealth NLL pro, who scored his first career WLA goal Wednesday in Langley, recorded his first career point in the Q Centre with an assist.
Casey Jackson of Victoria had two goals and three assists to move into second place in league scoring with 44 points. Greg Harnett, Mike Triolo, Josh Fagan and Steve Priolo each had a goal and assist for the Shamrocks, while Ethan Garland and Sheldon Burns also scored. Chris Wardle had three assists.
The fluid J.P. Kealey, an Ottawa native and NCAA Div. 1 field-lacrosse player out of Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, had a goal and two assists to move into a third-place tie in league scoring with 43.
Corey Hagedorn made 30 saves in goal for Victoria and Davide Diruscio 35 for Langley.
BOXLA BITS: Tyler Hass returned to the Shamrocks lineup, but injured scoring star Rhys Duch did not dress 鈥� The Shamrocks play again next Friday at home against the Coquitlam Adanacs 鈥� Former 12-season Coquitlam great Pat Coyle, a seven-time WLA all-star and five-time NLL pro champion with the Toronto Rock and Colorado Mammoth, will be inducted into the Adanacs鈥� Ring of Honour during their game tonight against the Nanaimo Timbermen 鈥� Coyle was inducted into the Coquitlam Sports Hall of Fame this year and will be inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in November.
