The Vancouver Stealth dropped their first road game of the season, falling 20-9 to the Colorado Mammoth at the Pepsi Centre in Denver, Colo., on Saturday night.
After opening their National Lacrosse League season with an 18-14 road win over the Calgary Roughnecks, the Langley-based Stealth have lost three in a row.
With the win, the Mammoth remain unbeaten at 3-0.
Corey Small scored four points (two goals, two assists) in his Stealth debut while Joel McCready netted three goals and an assist in a losing cause.
Adam Jones led the Mammoth with a career-high ten points (four goals, six assists), Drew Westervelt scored eight points (three goals, five assists) and John Grant Jr was in on seven of the team’s twenty goals with a pair of goals and five helpers.
The Stealth got off to an excellent start, leading 3-1 in the first quarter thanks to a pair of goals from Small and a single tally by Tyler Digby.
Colorado rallied to score the final two goals of the quarter to tie the score at 3-3.
McCready would give Vancouver a 4-3 lead to start the second quarter, putting one past goaltender Dillon Ward.
From there on it was all Mammoth, who score the next six goals to head into the locker room with a 9-5 halftime lead.
The Mammoth continued their hot streak in the third quarter by outscoring the Stealth 6-1 to lead 12-6 heading into the final frame.
Lewis Ratcliff scored the Stealth’s lone goal, his sixth of the season.
Digby, McCready and Rhys Duch (with his team leading 25th point) scored in the fourth quarter for the Stealth, who are in third place in the NLL’s West Division.
Tyler Richards stopped 24 of 38 shots before being replaced by Eric Penney, who came into game late in the third quarter and made 12 saves in relief.
Vancouver won’t have to wait long for their chance at revenge as the teams meet again this Saturday, Jan 31. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre. The first 1,500 fans receive a Stealth Team Poster.
