Corbett buries winner, Shooting Eagles win again

Tyson Johnson (#22) tracks down a loose ball during his Shooting Eagles' 16-15 win over the Sea Spray on Nov. 15 in week 2 Arena Lacrosse League West Division action at Langley Events Centre. Gary Ahuja photo

Patrick Corbett’s second goal of the night stood as the winner as the Shooting Eagles held off the Sea Spray 16-15.

The teams were playing in week 2 action of the Arena Lacrosse League West Division on Wednesday night at Langley Events Centre.

With the game tied at 15 and just over two minutes remaining, Corbett delivered the dagger to improve his team to 2-0 on the young season, while the Sea Spray sit at 1-1.

The sequence on the winning goal saw the Shooting Eagles force a turnover to spring a breakaway chance.

Lee Jackman had made the initial save on a breakaway, but Corbett was in the right spot to pounce on the loose ball.

“It was just a good play on defence, a tipped pass,” Corbett said. “Honestly, the ball was just there in the crease, picked it up with an open net and the goalie out of position and just dunked it in.”

The Shooting Eagles led for almost the entirety of the contest, trailing just twice – 5-4 and 7-6.

“It is a good win for the whole team. It shows the team that as long as you battle hard and the effort is there,” Corbett said. “The effort is what carried us through. As soon as we clean up the sloppy stuff, we are going to be a tough one to beat.”

Dating back to last season, the Shooting Eagles have now won nine straight regular season games – and 11 of 12 games when including playoffs.

This is Corbett’s first season in the ALL West, but he has previously played in the ALL East Division.

“(This) is a resilient group,” he said about his new teammates. “Both games we got down a little bit, but just the resilience of everyone, being able to battle back. There is good camaraderie (with this group) and that is key for teams to be successful.”

While Corbett scored twice, Dylan Lacroix (3-2), Garrett Winter (3-2) and Mark Yingling (3-1) each had hat tricks while Jake Young (2-3), Coady Adamson (1-2), Jacob Dowell (1-1) and Reece Young (1-0) had the other Eagles goals. Brody Harris went the distance in goal, stopping 43 of 58 shots.

The Sea Spray were led by a monster game form Tyler Kirkby as he delivered a goal and eight assists for nine points. Tyler Ewen had five goals and an assist with Lukas Nielsen (4-2) and Kordell Primus (3-2) both had multi-goal games. Jordan Gabriele (1-3) and Evan Pattison (1-1) had the other goals for their team. In net, Reed Watson made 22 saves on 32 shots while Lee Jackman stopped 21 of 27 shots.

Ewen, Lacroix and Winter were the game’s three stars.

Up next: Week 3 of the ALL West Division will resume on November 26 with the Shooting Eagles facing the Grizzlies at 1:00pm while the Black Fish battling the Sea Spray at 4:00pm.

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