Coming up big in the middle served the Valley Rebels well in the end.
The local senior B men’s lacrosse team rode a monster second-period performance to a 15-10 victory over the North Shore Indians on Friday night at MSA Arena.
The visitors led 5-3 after the opening frame, but the Rebels out-scored them 9-3 in the middle stanza and cruised to from there.
“Our first period was horrible,” head coach Jim Nishiyama said, theorizing that his team took North Shore lightly after crushing them 27-14 on the road the previous week. “Our defence was flat, and we weren’t moving the ball.
“But we had a little pep talk between periods and decided to play how we should be playing. We kind of went to town there for a while.”
The Rebels extended their win streak to five, and they sit fourth in the West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association standings at 8-5.
Jordan Hernandez (four goals, two assists) and Brendan Galbraith (three goals, three assists) each posted six-point nights, while Sean Kelly (two goals, two assists), Kristian Amyote-Kilger (two goals, one assists), Matt Worfolk (1 goal, three assists), Brad Olson (one goal, two assists) and Geordie Wells (four assists) also had big outings offensively.
Goalie Matt Morehouse, released by senior A Langley Thunder last week, rejoined the Rebels and made 23 saves in his return.
“He’s one of the elite goalies in our league, and having him back is a huge confidence booster for everybody,” Nishiyama noted.
The Rebels are back in action on Friday, when they host the Nanaimo Timbermen (8 p.m., MSA Arena) in their regular season finale.
