Stealth Stay Perfect; Down Bandits
by Brett Bowker | nll.com
The Washington Stealth (3-0) defeated the visiting Buffalo Bandits
(0-3) 13-11. The Stealth were led in scoring by forward Cam
Sedgwick with four goals and one assist and supported by Jeff
Zywicki with one goal and five assists. Buffalo tranisition player
Mark Steenhuis gave a strong performance tallying five goals and
one assist.
Buffalo defenseman Ian Llord opened up scoring, after picking off a
Stealth pass and scoring on a breakaway 30 seconds into the game.
Buffalo hit the floor with some fire, catching the Stealth out of
sync as the Bandit defense created numerous turnover problems.
Washington forward Rhys Duch got some momentum going. He got a feed
from forward Tom Johnson, then found an open lane where he dodged
through his defender and went airborne. He shot a bouncer right
past Bandit goalkeeper Ken Montour, just before tip-toeing the
crease.
"Lacrosse is a game of momentum swings," said Sedgwick, who broke
two ties during the game. The Stealth's past three games had three
different top point scorers.
"We have four, five six different guys who put the ball in every
night," said Sedgewick, who was named the game MVP.
As the second quarter progressed, the game became more physical and
cheap shots mounted. Buffalo forward Brandon Francis received a
game misconduct penalty after instigating a fight and was ejected
shortly after.
With five minutes left in the half, the Bandits replaced goalkeeper
Ken Montour with back up Angus Goodleaf and the Stealth led by one
goal, 7-6, over the Bandits at halftime. Bandits forward Mark
Steenhuis got his fourth goal to open up the second half and the
two teams were deadlocked until the middle of the third quarter,
when the Stealth started a scoring spree.
"To be honest, Steenhuis owned me on the crease tonight, but we
kept him outside and had success," said Stealth goalkeeper Tyler
Richards.
The thorn for the Bandits was their face-off performance. The
Stealth's second-year transition player Jamison Koesterer dominated
the circle, winning 25 out of 27 face-offs.
"Koesterer was fantastic, when Francis went out. He dominated. He
had a superb game," said Stealth Head Coach Chris Hall.
Washington (3-0) will finish off its double header weekend by
visiting the Calgary Roughnecks (1-1) for its first away game at
9:30pm ET Saturday. The last time these two teams met was in the
2009 playoffs, when the Roughnecks dismantled the Stealth 17-5.
"We had a pretty tough loss to them in the playoffs and everyone on
the team wants to prove we're a contender for the championship,"
said Richards.
The Buffalo Bandits, still winless, will head to Edmonton to face
the Rush (1-1) for its home opener in Rexell Place tonight at 9pm
ET.
