Merchants Register Convincing Victory In Waterloo

 By Sam Laskaris

The Merchants Lacrosse Club hit the road on Tuesday and earned its most lopsided win of the season. The Merchants trounced the host Kitchener Waterloo Velocity16-4 in an Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) contest. 

The match was staged at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex.

It was the second straight road game the Merchants had earned a victory by a double-digit margin. Last Wednesday they had downed the Ennismore James Gang 16-6.

Merchants’ head coach Jason Crosbie was as expected rather pleased with the efforts of his charges on Tuesday. “We wanted to come in and make a statement with our play, not quite with the score though,” he said.

As the playoff-bound Merchants gear up for their upcoming post-season, they realized they were facing a Velocity squad playing for pride. That’s because the Kitchener Waterloo side will not qualify for the OSL playoffs.  “We did what we had to do in a game like this,” Crosbie said.

Dylan Riley, who scored four goals, was a dominant force for the Merchants throughout the game. Crosbie praised Riley’s performance. “He has to use his body to his advantage,” Crosbie said of Riley. “When he does that he’s very successful.”

Crosbie for the most part was also pleased with the play of netminder Lukas Coote. “In this type of game he did a good job of focusing,” Crosbie said of his goalie.

Tuesday’s game was only close early on. The Velocity managed to open the scoring but the Merchants stormed back with the next three goals. After the hosts cut the deficit to 3-2, the Merchants once again scored three straight goals to conclude the opening 20 minutes with a 6-2 lead.

The Merchants then took complete control by outscoring the Velocity 7-1 in the second period.  And though the Merchants let up somewhat in the final frame they still managed to outscore the Velocity 3-1 in the concluding period.

Besides Riley’s four goals, the Merchants also had multi-goal games from Travis Getz, who netted a hat trick, and Dylan Goddard who scored twice. Liam Osborne, Connor van Ryn, Trent Boyd, Cory Upshaw, Jeff Fernandes, Jake Gilmour and Steve Wizniuk added single goals for the Merchants.

With the victory the Merchants’ record improved to 8-5. The Merchants, who had already clinched a post-season berth, are occupying the fourth and final playoff spot in the six-team OSL.

The Velocity saw its mark fall to 1-14. The Kitchener Waterloo squad, which has just one game remaining, will finish in the cellar of the league standings.

The Merchants’ next game is this Friday (July 12) at home against the Owen Sound North Stars. The opening faceoff for this contest, which will be at Children’s Arena in Oshawa, is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.