The Saskatchewan Rush may have clinched first place in the West division, but in week 17 of the season, they were still looking to lock up the first place title in the National Lacrosse League.
They may have to wait one for week for that, as the Rush dropped a 14-12 game against the Vancouver Stealth over the weekend. With the loss, tailored with a Buffalo Bandits win, it leaves the two teams deadlocked for first place in the NLL with one week remaining.
The Stealth jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before Ben McIntosh took a pass from Mark Matthews and beat Tyler Richards to open the scoring for the Rush.
Last week we talked about Matthews being in the hunt for a 100-point season. Well, he got it against Vancouver, finishing the game with five goals and two assists. This campaign is his second straight 100-point year. He now has 102 points with a week remaining on the schedule.
On the other bench it was Logan Schuss coming through for the Stealth with four goals and four helpers.
It was 11-7 heading into the fourth quarter, where the come back for Saskatchewan fell just short. Matthews scored a hat trick in the final frame, while Robert Church and Curtis Knight also chipped in with tallies. The Rush were able to out score Vancouver 5-3, while also finding the back of the net five times on the man advantage throughout the tilt, but weren’t able to overcome their halftime deficit.
Aaron Bold was named first star of the week last week, and backed it up with a 40-save performance while making 12 stops in the fourth quarter.
The Rush finish off their incredible season in Rochester with a bout against the 6-10 Knighthawks.
