Vancouver Stealth defeated the Toronto Rock on Friday night by a score of 14-11.
The Stealth, sitting 6-8 games for the season, found themselves in a familiar position against the Toronto Rock – down at the half.
But that was the tale of the first 30 minutes. The second half was a whole different animal where Vancouver went on a seven-goal run to take the lead.
The Stealth were led by Jordan Durston who had three assists to go along with a hat trick which included a pair of highlight reel goals.
“Lacrosse is a game of runs, you need to stick with your systems and hopefully everything works out,” said Durston.
“Going into Toronto last week, (I think) we should have gotten the win. But there are four games left in the regular season and we are pushing for a playoff berth, so this win is huge.”
The defence was the catalyst in the win for Vancouver.
Pete McFetridge, Curtis Hodgson, and Matt Beers all tallied on the scoresheet with a goal.
Meanwhile, Joel McCready willed his way to a pair, Rhys Duch and Logan Schuss had four points, Cory Conway had a goal and two assists and Corey Small padded his NLL scoring lead with a 7-point game.
“I have never really had a year like this, so I am not really used to this kind of attention,” said Small.
“Those crucial goals in the third and fourth came from the energy of the fans. They have always been great to us, but tonight it was a whole other level. We have two more games at home and this puts us one step closer to the playoffs.”
Rhys Duch entered NLL game 144 and left with his 800th career point after dishing to Corey Small for the game winning goal.
“I wouldn’t even call this a milestone, I think it is a cool feat but I plan on being in this league for a long time,” Duch said.
“We should not be talking about my 800th but rather the fact that we won and that keeps us in the driver’s seat for our playoff position.”
The Stealth hold the third and final playoff spot in the west division.
They look to maintain their lead over Calgary as they visit the Saskatchewan Rush on April 8, in the NLL Twitter Game of the Week.
Vancouver returns home on April 15, when they go head-to-head with Calgary.
Tickets are available at the Langley Events Centre Box Office at 604-882-8800, or Ticket Rocket.co.
