All good things must come to an end, eventually, and for the Langley Tier 1 Thunder, that meant their five-game win streak to start the season came to a halt on Tuesday night.
Hosting the Port Coquitlam Junior Saints at Langley Events Centre on May 13, the T1 Thunder were on the short end of an 8-7 score in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action.
“It’s a reality check for the boys and I think everyone understands that now after talking about it,” said Langley coach Connar Abrams. “We just have to learn from this loss and take it forward to our next game.”
Coming off a dominant victory two days earlier where they scored 16 goals, Langley struck on four of their first five shots, leading 4-0 less than eight minutes in and prompting the Saints to swap their goaltenders, handing the crease over to call-up netminder Pete Gombar. And from there on out, the T1 Thunder struggled to find the back of the net, scoring just once over their next 29 shots as they found themselves trailing 8-6 with 6:37 remaining.
Langley did get within a goal but could not find the equalizer.
“Hats off to him; we didn’t have much film on him, we didn’t really know where it was to find that sweet spot. He stepped in and rose to the occasion so hats off to him; he did a great job,” Abrams said of Gombar who came off the bench to make 34 saves on 37 shots.
Abrams did like his team’s resolve as they nearly battled back from that three-goal deficit late in the contest and had multiple shots in the dying seconds.
Dallas Kilpatrick led the Langley offence with a hat trick. Cashton Hemsworth, Kiyoshi Copeland, Brett Billings (a call-up for the T1 Thunder) and Jameson Reed scored a goal apiece with Reed and Braydon Longacre finishing with three assists each.
Marcus Khan finished with 46 saves as his team was outshot 54-42.
Next up for the team is a visit to Maple Ridge on May 16 to face the Burrards.
The Langley Thunder lacrosse organization consists of Senior A, Junior A and Junior Tier 1 teams who play in the Western Lacrosse Association, BC Junior A Lacrosse League and BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League respectively. All three teams play their home games at Langley Events Centre.
