The late game of the Week 16 Friday night slate featured two teams that were in desperate need of some wins and some help across the rest of the league. The Vancouver Warriors played host to the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, and this game was the tale of two halves, one good and one bad for each side. The Desert Dogs were flying high at halftime as they were up and controlling the pace of the game. The second half belonged to the Warriors, as a run late in the third, as well as matching Las Vegas every step of the way in the fourth, eventually led to their 13-12 victory.
Before we get to the game, it should be noted that there were some hefty scoring performances from both sides. First, unfortunately in a losing effort, Casey Jackson scored a whopping eight goals, presumably emptying his bag of tricks, as each one was different than the last. For Vancouver, Adam Charalambides, Ryan Martel, and Keegan Bal buried 11 of the Vancouver 13 goals. With all that in mind, let’s get to it.
Las Vegas came out white-hot, like HOT. Three goals in the game’s first five-ish minutes stunned the Warriors and the majority of those in attendance at Rogers Arena. Jackson, Jack Hannah, and Connor Kirst were the scorers. Martel notched his first with a beautiful dunk from behind the net, and Charalambides followed it up with his first. 3-2 Dogs after one.
Las Vegas, uh, well, Jackson, TOOK OVER to start the second quarter to the tune of four goals in a row in 5:41 of game play. The first was a disgusting submarine shot that probably didn’t make it six inches off the floor, the third caused an Aden Walsh exit, and the fourth was a power play marker that unceremoniously welcomed Walsh back into the game. Vancouver knew they had to answer, and that they did with a three-goal run of their own. Scorers were Reid Bowering (welcome back), Martel with a beautiful shovel shot as he dove across the crease, and Bal on the power play. Dylan Watson and Brad McCulley traded goals to close out the second, and that put us at 8-6 Las Vegas going into the break.
The goaltender situation was quite a bit different as well. Walsh, as you saw, had a shaky first half, stopping 13 of 21. On the other side, Landon Kells was as stout as could be, making 22 saves on 28 shots.
“I saw that the guy was overplaying me a bit, with some space underneath,” said Bowering about his first half goal. “We can’t give him (Jackson) any space, he’s hot right now, we just have to stick to our process, we’ll be good.”
Stuck with the process is exactly what Vancouver did, as they outscored Las Vegas 4-1 in the third quarter and saw their first lead of the game. I’ll give you one guess who the lone scorer for Las Vegas was…Yes, it was Jackson. The four for Vancouver were by the three mentioned at the beginning, Martel, Charalambides, and Bal twice. Just like that, it was 10-9 Warriors after three.
Like two of the previous three quarters, Jackson started the scoring for Las Vegas to begin the fourth, but Martel had the answer. Jackson nodded it back up with his eighth, but Charalambides had that answer to keep Vancouver ahead. With 3:25 to play, Zack Greer tied it up with his first, and this quite literally, was going to be a fight to the end. Vancouver won a massive faceoff after that, and after some back-and-forth, they set up shop for what ended up being the final possession. Charalambides almost went off the field for a change, ran back into the zone, caught a pass and buried it with :27 to go. Your final from Vancouver, 13-12 Warriors.
Players of the game for Vancouver were their big three, Charalambides (4+4), Martel (4+1), and Bal (3+6). Walsh really settled in in the second half, stopping 37 of 49 in total. For Las Vegas, Jackson (eight goals), Hannah (1+4), and Greer (1+4) led the way. Kells did all he could down the stretch, ultimately coming up short, and stopping 39 of 52 for the game.
“Our last core value is to be resilient,” said Curt Malawsky after the game. “We just stuck with it and pulled it out.”
“Lacrosse is a game of runs, but I think we did a good job of pushing back when they took the lead at 7-2,” said Charalambides. “I just came off a D shift, so I was going to go change, Curt waved me and said you’re not changing. He mouthed me a play, I cut off the pick, Baller found me and I was lucky enough to put it in.”
Vancouver (4-9) looks to build off this win to make things interesting in regards to their shot at the playoffs. They have a trip to the East Coast as they visit Philadelphia (5-7) next Saturday at 7pm. Las Vegas (4-9) is in a similar spot, as they need some wins and some help. They, too, hit the road and travel to San Diego (10-4) next Saturday at 10pm.
Something to watch: These two clubs do battle once again in two weeks, that time in Las Vegas.
