The Armstrong Shamrocks senior lacrosse team is putting the league on notice.
The Shamrocks defeated the reigning Thompson Okanagan Senior Lacrosse League (TOSLL) champion Kelowna Raiders on Friday (April 19) night, 11-7 in front of a raucous crowd at the Nor-Val Sports Centre.
Over the past 10 TOSLL seasons, the Raiders have won six and the Shamrocks four. Last year, Kelowna had a perfect season, punctuated with a 2-0 sweep of Armstrong in the final series.
This year, the Raiders winning streak lasted just one game, as the Shamrocks offensive prowess proved too much on Friday night.
Armstrong’s Kyle Versteeg opened the scoring off a nifty pass from former Junior A stalwart Tyson Fair. Carston Schlaak doubled the Shamrocks lead minutes later. Then, it was Logan Strohm’s turn to get on the board. After the whistle to single the end of the opening frame, the Raiders, despite 18 shots, were shut out.
In the second, both teams traded goals, with Kelowna and Armstrong both scoring five times as the Shamrocks took an 8-5 lead into the third.
After a Dayton McIntosh goal brought the Raiders to within two, Armstrong quickly responded with the captain Steve Clark scoring to put the game away. The final score, 11-7 meant that it was the first loss for Kelowna in over a year.
“Our conditioning and commitment to play together as a team really showed tonight,” said Shamrocks captain Steve Clark, “I have to give props to our defence and goaltending tonight as I wouldn’t want to play against them. We had eight different scorers tonight and a bunch more guys that had good looks but missed, when you have that kind of team firepower it puts a ton of pressure on their defence.”
Shamrocks goaltender Conner Senn stood tall in net, letting in seven on a whopping 62 shots to take home first star honours. Jarret Medhurst had a five point night (one goal, four assists) while Versteeg, Strohm and Owen Barker each found the back of the net twice.
Next up for the 2-0 Shamrocks is a bout against the 1-1 Kamloops Rattlers. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Arpil 26 from the Nor-Val Sports Centre.
READ MORE: Host Thompson Okanagan Lakers blank Atlantic champs in Vernon
READ MORE: Armstrong bests Vernon in senior lacrosse season opening game