It was a fantastic night for lacrosse in the WLA with two important games getting decided in the final stages. On the rock, the Victoria Shamrocks defeated the Langley Thunder by a score of 8-5. Then, on the mainland, the Burnaby Lakers continue to surge as they took down the New Westminster Salmonbellies 14-13 in overtime at the Bil Copeland Sports Complex. Let’s break down the action from the big night and go into each game.
Victoria 8, Langley 5
After falling to Langley earlier in the year, the Shamrocks won their fourth straight at the expense of the Thunder, who lost their fourth straight game. Victoria is now in a three-way tie with New West and Nanaimo for third place after tonight while the Thunder are tied with Coquitlam for the last spot with just 4 points.
Connor Robinson led the Thunder in points with a goal and two assists. Robinson has fifteen more points than anyone else on the team and has scored in every game for Langley this season. Dylan Kinnear had two goals in his second consecutive game and has fourteen goals in eleven games for the Thunder. Steve Fryer made forty-five saves in arguably his best game since their 10-7 lost to Coquitlam on June 19th.
The first star of the night was Larson Sundown, who had five assists and has been one of the hottest stars in the WLA for the last two weeks. In his last four games, Sundown has put up seven goals and twelve assists with the Shamrocks. On the back end, Cody Hagedorn started a little shaky, giving up two goals in the first six minutes but in the end, had 33 saves and hasn’t given up more than seven goals in a start since May 31 against Burnaby. Another great night for the Shamrocks, who have really stepped up in the last month.
Langley’s Next Game: 7/2 @ Maple Ridge 7:30 PM
Victoria’s Next Game: 6/29 @ New Westminster 5:00 PM
Burnaby 14, New Westminster 13 (OT)
Some might call this the best game of the WLA season so far and it would be hard to argue with those people. In what was the highest scoring game of 2019, the Burnaby Lakers secured their second overtime win of the season, this time over their mainland rival New Westminster Salmonbellies.
It wasn’t for a lack of effort that the Bellies lost this game. New West tied the game seven different times on Friday but couldn’t tie the game in sudden death overtime when Zach Gould scored the game winner. Mitch Jones had a goal and seven assists after coming off being named WLA Player of the Week last week. Austin Shanks had five points and has ten goals in his last four games. In the end, nine different players scored for the Bellies, who have a chance to redeem themselves in their next game against Burnaby on July 4th.
Lakers star Robert Church scored a hat trick for Burnaby and increased his league lead in points with 47. However, it was Zach Gould who stole the show with two goals, including the game-winner in overtime. Those two goals were Gould’s first since June 2nd when the Lakers beat Maple Ridge. He, along with Scott Jones, finished with four points on the night. It was the Lakers first win against New West since July 7, 2017.
New Westminster’s Next Game: 6/29 vs. Victoria 5:00 PM
Burnaby’s Next Game: 6/30 @ Nanaimo 6:00 PM
