Rock 1-1 on the road this weekend
TORONTO – The Toronto Rock were defeated by the Edmonton Rush 16-12 tonight and fall to 5-8 in the NLL East Division standings.
Rock forward Craig Conn opened the scoring for the game 4 minutes in followed by another goal by Rock defender Peter Lough, both goals assisted by newcomer Nick Carson. Tyler Gibbons scored his first ever NLL goal for the Rush and Edmonton forward Jimmy Quinlan tied the game at two putting one past Rock goaltender Bob Watson.
The teams exchanged goals as Luke Wiles scored for the Rock and Andy Secore responded with his first of the game for the Rush. Edmonton took the lead with another two and Rock goaltender Steve Dietrich replaced Watson in net for Toronto. Lewis Ratcliff, who recorded five goals in the Rock’s win over the Calgary Roughnecks last night, scored his first of the game with just under five minutes left in the quarter.
Rock defenders Rob Marshall and Scott Campbell each put one past Brandon Atherton to give Toronto a one goal lead and forward Kasey Beirnes secured another, resulting in seven goals on fourteen shots for the Rock. Quinlan scored another for Edmonton with two minutes remaining in the first and the Rock would hold a one goal lead to close out the first.
Despite Edmonton holding a two man advantage, Blaine Manning scored his second of the game before Secore and Jamie Floris scored two in a row for the Rush tying the score at 8-8. The high scoring game continued on with another two Toronto goals from Kasey Beirnes & Luke Wiles, both their second of the night. Three Rush goals to follow would give Edmonton the 11-10 lead ending the first half.
Tight defence for both teams kept the scoring low to begin the third quarter before Mike Hominuck scored the first goal of the second half for the Rush six minutes in followed by another from Ian Hawksbee. Craig Conn would score the first Rock goal of the second half on a diving goal past Rush goaltender Chris Levis and a powerplay goal from Luke Wiles brought the Rock within one closing out the third quarter.
Andy Secore scored his fourth of the night to open the scoring in the final quarter and secured another shortly after with eight minutes to go in the game. Mike Hominuck recorded his third of the night to give the Rush a four goal lead to finish off the game and defeating the Rock 16-12.
The scoring was spread out among the Rock with Luke Wiles leading with 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) and Kasey Beirnes and Craig Conn each with a pair. Blaine Manning recorded 1 goal and 5 assists and Lewis Ratcliff tallied 1 goal and 4 assists. Rob Marshall, Peter Lough and Scott Campbell contributed a goal each.
The Rush were led by Andy Secore who tallied 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists) and Mike Hominuck who recorded 3 goals and 4 assists. The Edmonton Rush improve to 4-8.
The Toronto Rock (5-8) return home next weekend to host the Boston Blazers at the Air Canada Centre on Friday April 3rd 2009 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
For more information, please contact:
Terri Workman
Public Relations – Toronto Rock Lacrosse Club
416-596-3075, ext. 226
tworkman@torontorock.com
