The Western Lacrosse Association club snapped its two-game losing streak in winning for just the second time in five outings as they submarined the Salmonbellies.
Victoria will try and carry the positive result into Langley tonight as the Shamrocks face the league-leading and two-time defending champion Thunder at 7 p.m.
They’ll need some bigger weapons than the pop guns they displayed in an 11-6 loss at home to Langley the previous Friday, which did not sit well with the organizational higher-ups.
“I think overall, in a ll areas, we were better and we got a little luck on our side, some bounces finally going or way,” said Shamrocks’ general manager Chris Welch, whose coaching staff challenged the team this week.
“Absolutely, we only had the three games left and, let’s face it, we weren’t playing our best lacrosse. With playoffs right around the corner we had to step it up. Tonight was a big game and the guys responded.”
The offence was much better, bouncing back from a 2-0 deficit 5:20 in on goals by New West’s Curtis Hodgson and Jordan McBride, just 56 seconds apart.
The Shamrocks came to life shortly after as Karsen Leung and Cory Conway replied 34 seconds apart. Victoria then took its first lead at 16:14 of the first on a long shot from Leung.
Shamrocks goalie Matt Vinc came out of his net for an extra man late in the opening stanza and the hosts cashed in with 4.9 seconds left as Mitch Jones gave Victoria a 4-2 lead heading into the break.
Leung finished with three goals, while Jeff Shattler, Scott Ranger, Corey Small and Tyler Hass all added a pair each for the Shamrocks, who received a solid performance from Conway with a game-leading two goals and six assists. Ben McCullough also scored.
Vinc earned the win in goal for the Shamrocks.
The Shamrocks improve to 10-6 and are briefly two points back of Langley.
Ilija Gajic, Richard Lachlan, Keegan Bal and Kyle Ross also scored for the Salmonbellies, who slip to 6-9-1 and are in danger of missing the playoffs yet again.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
