The Nanaimo Timbermen got a bit careless with the ball in key moments and it cost them.
The senior A lacrosse team fell 13-9 to the Burnaby Lakers on Sunday night at Frank Crane Arena.
Nanaimo drew within a goal three times in the third period, but couldn’t tie the game.
“We didn’t value the ball enough,” said Kaleb Toth, coach of the Timbermen. “We had way too many turnovers. Some were forced, some were just our error, just throwing the ball away, not making the intelligent decisions.”
The third period of Sunday’s game wasn’t the right time to attempt passes that had only a 50-50 chance of connecting, the coach said.
“It comes down to just lack of focus. We try to teach intelligence to make smart decisions, not to make careless ones,” Toth said.
The Timbermen also felt they could have shot the ball better, and done better defensively with trying to keep Lakers shooters farther from the crease.
“The effort is definitely there, guys are working hard,” Toth said. “We’ve just got to tighten up our game a little bit and be a little smarter … We know that if we play good and play how we can, we’ll beat these teams.”
Brett Hawrys, T-men forward, said he expects his team will be able to quickly correct the things that went wrong in Sunday’s loss.
“We’re in the hunt, there’s too much on the line during this part of the season,” he said. “I think we’ll bear down and figure it out here.”
Ryan Lee led the T-men attack with a hat trick, Colton Clark had two goals and two helpers and Hawrys had a goal and five assists. Brody Eastwood, Jordan Gilles and Cody Bremner were the other Nanaimo scorers and Pete Dubenski made 38 saves in defeat.
For the Lakers, Robert Church scored five goals and former Timbermen players made an impact, with Eli McLaughlin scoring a hat trick and goalie Zak Boychuk making 35 saves for the win.
GAME ON … The T-men visit the WLA’s first-place New Westminster Salmonbellies on Thursday (July 14) at Queen’s Park Arena, then Nanaimo hosts the Maple Ridge Burrards on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com