Despite a Spirited Effort BLC Falls to Peterborough

By Mark Stehlin

Coming off a 14-4 loss in game one in Peterborough, Brooklin Lacrosse Club fans were looking for a response game by their team to get back into this series. The effort on the floor was evident but despite a valiant attempt,  the final score registered 10-8 in favour of the Lakers who take a 2-0 series lead. 

There was energy in the rink as participants in the Ontario Lacrosse Festival filled the stands to watch their heroes do battle. As a matter of fact, last night’s contest was delayed by 15 minutes to accommodate a Festival game on the same rink that ran late.

The home side scored first as Brady Kearnan fired one past Lakers starter Nick Rose to get his team on the board. Taggart Clark with his first of three on the night, opened the gap but only briefly as two late goals by the Lakers tied the contest at 2-2 after twenty minutes.

It was BLC again who came out of the gate with pep in their game. They notched two goals fairly early to regain the two-goal margin. Unfortunately, as had been the case all night, the Lakers had an answer for each goal. With eight seconds on the clock, Joe Resatarits gave the Lakers their first lead of the night and it was 6-5 for the visitors after two periods of play.

It was the identical pattern in the third as the Lakers snuffed out any momentum that BLC was attempting to build. The home side tied the game with Clark’s third, only to watch Justin Sykes score twice in succession to give the Lakers back control. Sean Westley with the shot-clock ticking down cut from left to right at the top of the slot and fired one low on Rose at the buzzer for a bit of life. With 2:20 on the board and a score of 10-7, starter Zach Higgins started making way to the bench for an extra BLC attacker. It was not to be on this night, rookie Will MacLeod did score on the power-play in the dying seconds, but the 10-8 loss translates to a 2-0 series deficit for BLC.

“I like the way we played, it’s tough when you lose a game and you’re happy with the way you played but obviously not the result on the scoreboard that we wanted,” said head coach Joel Johnson following the game.

“Every race and every battle matters until the end. We know what’s at stake and what it will take to get back into it. We had a better game tonight than game one and I expect and even better game three on Monday night,” added Johnson.

Scoring – MacLeod (2,4) Keenan (0,2) Westley (2,3) Clark (3,2) C Kearnan (0,5) B Kearnan (1,0)

Next up is game three on Monday at 7 pm at the Peterborough Memorial Centre, the teams return to Iroquois Park Sports Centre on Wednesday at 8 pm for game four. Meanwhile, the Brooklin Merchants defeated Owen Sound three games to none in their best of five semi-final series. They now await the winner of Six Nations and Hamilton who are tied at 2-2 in that semi final series. Game five goes Monday at 7 pm from the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.