Shamrocks Move Into First With 11-8 Win Over Adanacs

The Victoria Shamrocks improved to 6-1-0 and moved into first place in the Western Lacrosse Association standings with an 11-8 road win over the Coquitlam Adanacs on Saturday night at the Coquitlam Sports Centre. The loss drops the Adanacs to 4-3-0 and into third.

Coquitlam jumped out to an early lead, with Kean Moon opening the scoring just 58 seconds in off a feed from Jalen Chaster and Dennon Armstrong, and James Rahe doubling it less than a minute later on assists from Adam Noakes and Armstrong.

Victoria answered before the midpoint of the period. Marshal King tied it with a pair of goals within three minutes, the first off Zach Manns and Koen Block at 8:23, the second from Manns and Brenden Jamieson at 10:58. Luke Pilcher then put the Shamrocks ahead for good with a power-play goal at 15:03, and Manns made it 4-2 just 31 seconds later off feeds from Kyle Pepper and Jamieson.

Victoria carried that momentum into the second, scoring four times in the opening four minutes to push the lead to 8-2 with Block on the power play, Denton Macdonald, King again, and Pilcher. That stretched the Shamrocks' run to eight unanswered goals spanning the first two periods. Coquitlam got three back before the period ended, with Laszlo Henning, Moon, and an unassisted Rahe goal trimming the margin to 8-5 after 40 minutes.

Block opened the third with his second of the night to make it 9-5, and Henning answered for Coquitlam at 8:19. King capped his four-goal night at 8:41 with helpers from Macdonald and Jacob Hickey, putting Victoria up 10-6. The Adanacs pulled their goalie late, getting goals from Chaster with the extra attacker (Rahe) and Moon on the power play (Henning, Rahe) to close within two, but Manns sealed it with an empty-net goal at 19:02, assisted by Nick Preston and Mathieu Gautier, for the 11-8 final.

Victoria outshot Coquitlam 54-39 on the night.

King was named first star with four goals and two assists, while Manns earned second star honours with two goals and five assists for a game-high seven points. Moon was named third star after a three-goal night for the Adanacs.

The Shamrocks will continue a stretch on the road, with stops in New Westminster on June 18th, Maple Ridge on June 21st, and Burnaby on June 26th, before returning home on July 3rd versus the Salmonbellies.