Westlock’s Midget Rock had a busy week, playing three home games in four days and posting two wins and one loss.
The victories improve the club to 4-10-3 in the Greater Edmonton Lacrosse Council.
“We didn’t hustle enough like we should have,” said player Anthony Calliou. “The only guy who kept us in it was our goalie, honestly. We need to come to our games prepared and ready to run.”
Following a 5-2 victory over the St. Albert Rams June 13, Sherwood Park got the jump on Westlock June 15 with a quick goal early in the game, putting the Titans up 1-0 for the whole of the first period. It was only in the early minutes of the second when Nicholas Eastman caught a pass from Evan Brost to put the ball in the Titan’s net, tying the game 1-1.
However, 10 minutes later the Titans answered back, sneaking a goal past goaltender Eric LeBlanc.
The Rock worked to catch up, with Riley Johnstone racing across the arena to score a goal single-handedly with eight minutes in the third, but the Titans were able to get back ahead in the dying minutes of the game and hang on to their 3-2 lead.
Assistant coach Conrad Hegedus said the team has good spirit, but needs to stay cool under pressure.
“The first period was rough, but getting into the second and third they were playing together as a team,” he said. “When they work together, they’re good. We’re going to work on avoiding penalties and just being ready.”
To end the weekend the Rock rebounded June 17, crushing the Parkland Posse 8-3.
Head coach Brian Hegedus said the team got lucky with the Posse being short on players and kept their cool for most of the game.
“It was a bit of a wake-up in the first period for the boys,” he said.
“We gave the boys the pep talk that the next game is not going to be easy, so we need to keep pushing on. We kept it pretty clean after the second period.”
The regular season is almost over for the Rock who play their final game June 23 against the Edmonton Warriors.
