Sea Spray hand Shooting Eagles first loss

James Rahe had a hat trick and seven points as the Sea Spray handed the Shooting Eagles their first loss of the Arena Lacrosse League West season, 11-9, on Jan. 25 at Langley Events Centre. Rahe leads the ALL West in goals (29) and points (48). Ryan Molag photo

It took until week 9, but a team was finally able to get the best of the Shooting Eagles. The Sea Spray used a 6-0 run to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season, topping the previously unbeaten squad 11-9.

The Shooting Eagles saw their record fall to 8-1 with the Sea Spray improving to 4-5 in Arena Lacrosse League West Division action following the result on Saturday at Langley Events Centre.

“Great team win. We battled hard; goaltending was great. We competed well. We might not have as much talent as we have had in other games … but we worked hard today,” said Sea Spray coach Ian Paterson.

“It hopefully sends a bit of a message to the league and to our team and let them know we can compete with anybody.”

The Sea Spray have now won back-to-back games following a five-game losing streak.

Saturday’s game saw the team fall behind 3-0 less than six minutes in, and even after rallying to tie the score, the Sea Spray were down 5-3 midway in the second quarter. But a 6-0 run over the next 11:13 gave them a lead they would not relinquish.

“When you are playing with a lead against a team that is not used to being down, it just makes my job. Really credit the offence and transition in making my job easier,” explained Sea Spray goaltender Lee Jackman, who made 47 saves on 56 shots.

The Shooting Eagles were averaging 16.5 goals per game heading into Saturday with an average margin of victory of 6.6 goals per game,

“They were contesting every shot and that is a big thing. Time and space when you get to this level is at a premium, so they did a really good job of making guys on offence uncomfortable,” Jackman explained.

With Jackman and the defence locking up their end of the floor, James Rahe (3-4) and Thomas Semple (4-2) were delivering on the offensive side, earning first and second star honours, respectively.

Tyrell Hamer-Jackson (1-2), Kai George (1-1), Seamus Bankier (1-1) and Ryan Heard chipping in a goal apiece.

Garret Winter’s two goals and five points led the Shooting Eagles and earned him the third star. Tysen Nielsen (2-0) and Coady Adamson (1-2) also had multi-point games with Ben Young, Lucas Parsons-Quintiao, Aiden Hindson and Declan Fitzpatrick adding the other goals.

Brody Harris made 39 saves on 50 shots.

UP NEXT: Up next is mid-week action for all four teams as the Grizzlies (2-7) face the Sea Spray (4-5) on February 4 while the following days sees the Shooting Eagles (8-1) against the Black Fish (4-5). Both games begin at 7:30pm at Langley Events Centre.

-30-