The Kentucky Stickhorses face their rival Boston Rockhoppers for the third and final time this season. Boston has defeated Kentucky in both of their matchups this season. This is Boston’s second trip to Louisville.
Kentucky suffered a two goal loss to the Baltimore Bombers last week where they struggled to score and stay out of the box. Meanwhile, Boston’s last game was also in Baltimore in a blowout victory over Baltimore.
The Rockhoppers were led by Ryan Hotaling’s six goals in their win over Kentucky on January 19th by a score of 16-9. That was also Vince Talbot’s first start of the season in net and he hasn’t looked back, leading the league in goals against average.
Boston also beat Kentucky 10-9 in the league opener on January 5th, and beat Kentucky once last season as well. Boston plays a very smart offense taking good shots and taking advantage of their transition opportunities. Kentucky needs to play a disciplined defense and limit their transition.
Last game for the Rockhoppers, they won thanks to wide shots from Baltimore being turned into two on ones. The Stickhorses can’t do that and expect to win. Their shots need to be on net and they have to have some sort of rebound control as well.
They have to play their defense system throughout the game and not get impatient with Boston looking for their shot, something the Kentucky defense tends to do at times. They also need to consider that Spencer Lyons is 0-2 against Boston in his career. That just means their defense needs to be even tighter.
On offense, Kentucky will have their outside shooting game from Travis Bland and Jesse Guerin. With Mike McClellan no longer there, how do they go down low and score from in front of the crease? Does Chazz Woodson stand up in this game?
Kentucky needs to watch the shots from Hotaling and Andrew Kirkaldy, who are both having stellar seasons. They also have to watch for shots from the left side from Mike Stone who has dominated all season.
Game time is at 7pm tonight at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Follow along for updates on Twitter from @LacrosseWeTrust and @InLaxBoston.
