The Vancouver Stealth are in control of their own destiny.
The team made sure of that with a huge win, defeating the Calgary Roughnecks 15-11 on Saturday night in National Lacrosse League action at the Langley Events Centre.
“It is one step closer to getting into the playoffs,” said Stealth defender Ian Hawksbee, who had a pair of assists while collecting a game-high 14 loose balls.
“We still have lots of work to do. We can’t rest on having the same record as Calgary, with having the tiebreak (but) we want to earn our way in. We can’t take any days off.”
The Stealth were down a goal at the half but for the second straight home game, used a stellar second half which saw them score 10 times to to earn their victory.
The win improved Vancouver to 7-9 while Calgary fell to 7-10.
The two teams are chasing the West Division’s final playoff spot and the Stealth have two games remaining while Calgary plays just once more.
And all Vancouver needs is one victory in either of the two games — or for Calgary to lose their lone remaining game — to secure their first playoff spot since moving to Langley in 2014.
“It is good that we have control, we don’t have to rely on anyone else,” said Stealth coach Jamie Batley.
With the score 6-5 for Calgary at the half, the Stealth began the third quarter on the power play.
Instead of taking advantage and tying the score, Vancouver surrendered short-handed goals 82 seconds apart to fall behind 8-5.
Rather than hang their heads after giving up a pair of short-handed goals, Hawksbee said the focus was on the next shift and fighting to build momentum.
And the team did just that, seizing control by stringing together four goals to get back in the game.
The teams finished the third quarter tied at nine and after trading goals to open the fourth, Vancouver scored five of the final six for the four-goal victory.
Logan Schuss led the Stealth offence with five goals while Rhys Duch had two goals and seven assists and Corey Small had five assists.
“It was just one of those games where the ball going in for me,” Schuss said.
“It was about time … I was well overdue.”
Schuss had gone three games without a goal and had just three in his previous six.
Joel McCready (two goals, one assist), Jordan Durston (one goal, three assists), James Rahe (one goal, two assists) and Justin Salt (one goal, two assists), Curtis Hodgson (two assists), Ian Hawskbee (two assists) and Tye Belanger (two assists) also had multi-point games.
The rest of the offence came from singles goals from Matt Beers, Cliff Smith and Evan Messenger.
Calgary was led by Curtis Dickson’s five goals and six points.
The Stealth are back in action next Saturday when they host the Colorado Mammoth (9-7) at the LEC.
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Saturday night’s game was also Lacrosse on the Move night with the Stealth wearing special British Columbia-themed jerseys which were also up for auction.
Altogether, $7,575 was raised with the money going to the Lacrosse on the Move fund. The money helps travelling lacrosse teams from around the province.
