San Jose shows Rush the way in 11-8 win
February 23, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
San Jose Stealth News Release
EDMONTON, Alta. - On the strength of a five-goal fourth quarter run, the San Jose Stealth rallied past the Edmonton Rush 11-8 in the National Lacrosse League Feb. 23 in front of 9,032 fans at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Stealth win pushed its record to 4-3 on the campaign, while the Rush fell to 0-6.
Colin Doyle led San Jose with four goals and two assists, while Luke Wiles had two goals and three assists for five points. Mike Accursi had two goals and two assists for four points for the Rush, while Dan Stroup fired two goals for Edmonton.
This was the first of three meetings between West Division rivals San Jose and Edmonton and the first game behind the Edmonton bench for Bob Hamley -- the new Rush coach and general manager - who's debut was spoiled by a gutsy effort of San Jose.
A seven-goal second half effort by the Stealth, especially five goals in the fourth quarter, led San Jose to the victory.
"I though it was a character win and something we've been working on," said Stealth head coach Walt Christianson. "You have to win the one-goal games. Cosmo was outstanding and I thought our defense was outstanding in the third and fourth quarters. It was a great character win for us."
Doyle opened the scoring for San Jose at 2:13 of the first quarter with a power-play shot from 53-feet over the left shoulder of Disher.
The Rush tied the game 1-1 on a crease scramble that saw Stealth forward Curtis Hodgson direct the ball into his own net. Edmonton's Kyle Goundrey was credited with the Rush tally.
Dan Stroup put Edmonton up 2-1 with a right-handed blast at 14:34, with assists from Goundrey and Darren Hillier.
The Stealth tied the game 2-2 just 28 seconds into the second quarter as Luke Wiles fought off an Edmonton defender and fired a goal past Disher, before Kevin Olson's first goal of the season, a power-play tally, lifted Edmonton up 3-2 at 2:57.
Edmonton went up 4-2 at 4:17 as Mike Grimes, off a long pass dished out by Disher, tallied his first of the year, before San Jose closed to 4-3 on Doyle's second of the night at 6:34.
Edmonton then fired two quick goals as markers by Mike Accursi at 6:43 and Chris McElroy at 7:30 put the Rush up 6-3, chasing goaltender Bold from the San Jose net. Anthony Cosmo came in relief for Bold.
Kyle Sorensen of the Stealth closed out the scoring in the first half with a right-handed shot on a nice feed by Hodgson, making the score 6-4.
San Jose outshot Edmonton 26-20 in the half.
Doyle completed his hat-trick with a power play goal from 39-feet at 2:36 of the third quarter to close the score to 6-5 for Edmonton, before the Rush took advantage of a five-against-three power-play as Stroup ripped his second of the night at 10:21 putting Edmonton up 7-5.
San Jose's Steve Panarelli outfoxed Disher with a one-handed tally from behind Edmonton's net to close within 7-6 at 12:24 and then the Stealth held off another Edmonton five-against-three to close out the quarter.
Wiles completed a three-way pass play at 2:23 of the fourth quarter to tie the score 7-7, before Frank Resetarits gave San Jose the lead with a one-hopper past Disher at 4:57.
Edmonton rallied back to tie the score 8-8 on Accursi's second goal of the contest at 5:56, before Jeff Zywicki's marker just 22 seconds later put San Jose back up 9-8.
The Stealth then continued the run with another Zywicki goal at 11:28 and Doyle's fourth of the contest, at 12:22, lifted the Stealth to the 11-8 victory.
The Rush next travel to Portland March 1 to tangle the LumberJax, while the Stealth's next action is March 8 at the Colorado Mammoth.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from February 23, 2008
- San Jose shows Rush the way in 11-8 win - San Jose Stealth
- Titans roll over Rochester - Orlando Titans
- Knighthawks Host New York Tonight - Rochester Knighthawks
- Holman Sparks Rally As Jax Win, 13-9 - Portland Lumberjax
- Roughnecks suffer another late collapse - Calgary Roughnecks
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