College Night – Warriors Fall To Mammoth

Photo Credit Mark Steffens

The Warriors played host to the Colorado Mammoth in a Friday night match-up on College Night that featured various local players.

Let’s not forget that the Aquilini family purchased the Vancouver Stealth in 2018 which was then  rebranded as the Warriors and relocated from suburban Langley to downtown Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.

This season the Toronto Rock continue to play not only focused, but disciplined aggressive lacrosse leading the league with a perfect five wins.

The Mammoth utilized the talent of Delta’s Jon Phillips, Victoria’s Chris Wardle and Surrey’s Eli McLaughlin who has played with the Mammoth since 2015 in addition to Connor Robinson who hails from New Westminster.

Entering the game saw the teams enter with an identical 2 and 4 record with the Warriors having 62 goals for and 66 against while Colorado has 59 goals and 76 against.

So the game was more focused with each team needing the win with the only team lower in the standings with a record of 1-4 was the Saskatchewan Rush.

The Warriors were forced to change “thenders” after the Mammoth got their sixth of the contest at 9:39 of the second trailing by a narrow 14-13 in the shot department.

The Warriors managed to get their second goal at 5:56 of the second  after a well executed shot off the right side with Keegan Ball.

Try as they might, the Warriors pressed, eventually getting their third of the game and second of the game with Keegan Ball with 1:02 left in the second while giving Colorado.

The first half ended with the Mammoth up by a 9-3 tally that saw them add a pair early in the third eventually adding one from and Kirkness

Shots after the third quarter saw the Warriors outshoot Colorado by a 37-32 margin dominating the third but unable to penetrate the strong “D: play of the Mammoth despite Colorado leading by a 12-5 margin.

The Warriors never quit and mounted a strong comeback grabbing their  sixth of the game as Burnaby’s Riley Lowen pulled them halfway home still trailing by a 12-6 margin.

Despite the game winding down Warriors Keegan Ball collected his third of the game making it somewhat respectable despite trailing by a 13-7 margin with 9:34 left in the last quarter.

It’s the old cliche that it’s never over until the final whistle and in this contest the Warriors got their eighth of the game with 2:49 left in the contest that saw Kevin Crowley with Ball getting his 7th point of the game.

Following the game Head Coach Curt Malawsky was direct in his  remarks regarding the outcome of the team’s loss and he never mixed his words on the play of his team.

The Warriors return to Rogers Arena for their next home game February 12th as they play host to the Saskatchewan Rush.