The Baltimore Bombers moved into a tie for first place in the North American Lacrosse League last night after they defeated the Kentucky Stickhorses, 17-13. Baltimore is now tied for Boston at a 3-1 record while Kentucky falls into a tie for last place with Rhode Island at 1-3.
Baltimore was coming off of a 20-9 beating against Boston and looking for vengeance against a Kentucky team who has struggled. Matt Hickman led them with six goals including four alone in the first half.
Andrew Wasik scored four times as well as Baltimore was left with a depleted roster with several stars not in action for the first game of the weekend double header. Meanwhile, their goalie Ginny Capicchioni continued her stellar season making 38 saves.
For Kentucky, Patrick Crosby faced 59 shots in his first game of action and made 42 saves and made 16 saves in just the first quarter alone. Travis Bland and Brandon Dube both picked up three goals a piece for Kentucky.
Baltimore led the game 7-5 at the half and then 12-9 before the fourth quarter. The Bombers rode a strong fourth quarter as they pulled too far away from Kentucky for the Stickhorses to get back in it.
Kentucky was debuting two new players, Chazz Woodson and Jesse Guerin. Woodson, in his first box game ever, picked up an assist while the veteran Guerin picked up three goals and three assists in his Kentucky debut.
Kentucky was without Mike McClellan on offense and were forced to rely on Bland and Guerin, which did lead them to 13 goals, a little above their season average. However, Baltimore’s offense was given many shots, and were able to score enough to win.
Baltimore already had 51 shots by the start of the fourth quarter while Kentucky had picked up just 29 by this point, showing just how many chances Baltimore was able to get early and midway through the game.
Joel Derichinsky scored as well after scoring three goals against Boston in his last game for Kentucky. However, the Kentucky offense was just not able to get enough past Capicchioni who has had the best season for a goaltender in the league this season.
Kentucky had started the game by scoring three straight for a 3-0 lead with goals from Dube and Eric O’Brien. However, Hickman and Wasik would lead Baltimore to the tie and eventually the win.
Kentucky gets a chance at revenge on Sunday when they face the Bombers again at home. For Baltimore, it would be a chance to jump into first place alone if Boston falls to Rhode Island tomorrow, or a chance to maintain a first place tie.
For the Stickhorses, this becomes very close to a must win game as they are now two games under .500. Another loss to Baltimore and they lose the tie breaker for the season when they already lost it to Boston. They need a win badly, and they better hope McClellan is back and they get another goaltending performance like they did tonight. That game could mean their season.
