The Vancouver Stealth may have lost the game, but it was a night James Rahe isn’t going to forget anytime soon.
Playing just his second professional National Lacrosse League game, the Langley man scored in his home debut for his first career NLL goal.
And it was fitting that the goal was scored on the floor at the Langley Events Centre, a place Rahe is quite familiar with, having played both his junior A and senior A lacrosse with his hometown Langley Thunder.
“I have been fortunate enough to play my whole life here and to score my first career goal here was a dream come true,” Rahe said after the game, a 14-12 loss to the visiting Georgia Swarm on Saturday night.
The goal came early in the first quarter with the Swarm defender giving the Vancouver forward too much space.
Congratulations to @jimrahey, who scored his first NLL goal tonight! #NLLFirsts #GAvsVAN pic.twitter.com/ovqWphQ7AM
— NLL (@NLL) January 29, 2017
“(James) got the ball and drove the net and made a great play,” said Stealth coach Jamie Batley.
“He made space for himself .. that is his game and that is what he has to do in this league.”
Rahe finished with a goal and two assists. He also had two assists the night before in a 16-12 loss in Saskatoon to the Saskatchewan Rush.
The two losses have erased a 2-0 start for the Stealth as the team now sits at 2-4 on the season.
The Stealth now get a two-week break between games and that should come in handy considering they played six times in a 23-day span, with four of those games away from home.
“We came out tonight and played our hearts out,” Batley said.
“I am very proud of them. I know we are 2-4 (but) we are going in the right direction.”
In Saturday’s game, Vancouver — despite playing in Saskatoon the night before while their opponent awaited them back in Langley — jumped ahead to a 5-1 lead after one quarter.
The second quarter saw the Swarm come back to lead 8-6 at the half before Vancouver regained control, leading 11-10 after three quarters.
The teams were tied at 12 with five minutes to go before Georgia struck for the game-winner and then added an empty-net goal.
“Just a couple little things and we knew exactly what they are, we just have to clean those up and that will be the difference,” Rahe said.
In addition to Rahe’s goal and two assists, Logan Schuss led the offence with three goals and four assists while Corey Small had a goal and five helpers.
Rhys Duch, Garrett Billings and Justin Salt each had two goals and an assist and Jordan Durston with a goal and an assist rounded out the scoring.
Tye Belanger made 38 saves in the loss.
The Stealth return to action on Feb. 12 when they host the Colorado Mammoth at the LEC.