Sea Spray win for the fourth time in five games

Tyler Ewen had two goals and two and two assists as the Sea Spray edged the Shooting Eagles 16-15 on Sunday afternoon at Langley Events Centre. Gary Ahuja LEC photo

For the fifth straight game, it was a one-goal game and for the fourth time in that span, the Sea Spray proved victorious.

The Sea Spray fell behind 6-2 after a quarter before battling back and then hanging on for a 16-15 win over the Shooting Eagles on Sunday afternoon in week 7 action for the Arena Lacrosse League West Division at Langley Events Centre. The Sea Spray improved to 4-3 while the Shooting Eagles are 3-4.

Keegan Bell’s power-play goal with 5:01 to play snapped a 14-14 tie with Tyler Kirkby potting the eventual game-winner with 3:07 to play. Garrett Winter did bring the Shooting Eagles back to within a goal with 51 seconds to play and his team had two cracks at forcing overtime, with Lee Jackman making the first save before Aidan Ellis soaked up the last-second attempt.

“Our one-goal game last week was flattering to us because we played poorly; we crawled our way back into the game. Today, we played with a lot more resolve: we kept getting down but coming back,” said Sea Spray coach Russ Heard.

“I think we thrive in these situations; we like them. We just power through,” added Adam Dickson, on the fact five of the team’s seven games have been decided by a single goal.

Dickson was one six Sea Spray players with multiple goals and four or more points as he finished with a hat trick and four points. Marcus Klarich and Keegan Bell each had four goals and five points, while Tyler Kirkby (2+3) and James Rahe (4+1) both had five-point games. Tyler Ewen finished with two goals and two assists while Jared Moloci had a goal and a helper. Vinny Ricci also had three assists and Jackman finished with 38 saves as the Sea Spray were outshot 53-45.

Box Score

Heard said the team had a good practice this week with most of the offensive players able to attend and the importance of practice time showed on Sunday.

“They laid a bit of an egg last week and came out with a little more resolve,” he said. “We had some miscues out of the back end, but (the Shooting Eagles) have a strong offensive team, so you have to give them credit.”

“We were getting the ball swinging. We have a lot of offensive talent but only one ball out there, so it is easy to move it around. Everyone is capable of shooting, so it makes it easy when everyone is capable of shooting,” Dickson said.

The Shooting Eagles were led by matching eight-point efforts from Adam Noakes (3+5) and Mark Yingling (4+4) while Spencer Bromley, Garrett Winter and Dylan McIntosh each had two goals and two assists. Dylan Lacroix (1+2) and Cole Catton (1+0) rounded out the scoring while Justin Digby had a trio of assists. Brody Harris made 29 saves in goal.

Klarich, Winter and Ricci were chosen as the three stars.