The Kelowna Raiders and Armstrong Shamrocks have been trading the keys to the Okanagan X-treme Lacrosse League penthouse for the better part of two seasons.
Kelowna (3-3) pulled within two points of the first-place Shamrocks (4-2) with a 10-5 win Friday night at Memorial Arena.
The Shamrocks, who fell 12-9 to Kelowna in their last meeting on May 13, opened the scoring in the first with league scoring leader Steve Clark putting his team on the board. The Raiders bounced backed quickly with Pho Heng scoring on a low sub-shot.
The two team traded goals back and forth for the rest of the period with the Rocks up 4-3 after the first.
The Raiders charged out in the second, catching the Rocks on their heels with a few quick goals to open up a 6-4 lead. Clark, with his second of the game, pulled Armstrong within a goal, but that’s as close as they got as Kelowna took a 7-5 lead into the second intermission.
The Shamrocks seemed to be one step behind the Raiders in the third frame, giving up three more goals to earn the victory.
“It seems like everyone is trying to do too much by themselves out there. We need to improve our transition game, and not hurry so much on the offensive end,” said goalie Chad Pieper.
“We will work hard in practice this week, and we will be ready for Vernon (Tigers) on Friday (7:30 p.m. at Nor-Val Sports Centre).”
