There was no mistaking which team is No. 1 in the Western Lacrosse Association.
The Victoria Shamrocks’ No. 1 national ranking was on full display Tuesday evening following a 14-7 victory over the Burnaby Lakers at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.
Daryl Veltman set the tone, tallying a pair of markers in the opening eight minutes of play.
Corey Small kept the Shamrock pressure cooker on boil, popping in his first two of three – back-to-back – to keep the Victoria juggernaut on the march early in the middle frame.
Small, the game’s first star, finished off his hat trick to end the period on a nice flip-and-go from Jesse King to give Victoria a 13-4 lead.
’Rocks captain Scott Ranger finished off the team’s scoring in the final frame in highlight-reel style with a clever move after an even better cross-floor, behind-the-back pass from second star Cory Conway.
Victoria also had its running game front and centre, scoring on transition on nearly half of its goal-scoring opportunities.
Backup Cody Hagedorn got the start and looked good, stopping 29 shots for the win, while Victoria shooters fired nearly 50 balls at Burnaby keepers.
“We have to win as a team and come a little more prepared,” said Burnaby defender Jeff Buchanan after the game. “There is no doubt (Victoria) plays with pace. We have to keep mistakes to a minimum. The key is to eliminate unforced errors and play tight as a team.”
Robert Church and third star Jason Jones both notched a pair of the goals for Burnaby, which fell back to 6-6 with the loss.
Burnaby is off until next weekend when it hosts Nanaimo on July 17 and then takes on the Adanacs in Coquitlam on July 18.
