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Stealth Defeat Rush 15-7 In Edmonton's Season Opener

January 16, 2010 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Edmonton Rush News Release


Edmonton, AB--The Washington Stealth showed their offensive firepower with a 15-7 win over the Edmonton Rush in National Lacrosse League game action Jan. 15 at Comcast Arena in Everett, Wash.

In the first game of the Derek Keenan era for Edmonton, Washington poured in 11 first-half goals and held the Rush offense in check in for a run longer than 36 minutes without a goal in the middle of the contest, en route to the victory.

With the win, Washington, who outshot Edmonton 55-48 Friday night, improved to 2-0, while Edmonton fell to 0-1.

It was a disappointing debut for the Rush attack as the club failed to convert their offensive chances and met a hot goalkeeper in Washington's Matt Roik.

"We played pretty well early, but once they got on a run, we seemed to get outside our game plan," said Keenan. "Our offense struggled. Our power-play went oh-for and we just went really dry.

"Roik played extremely well, but we just have to execute better. We can't go that long without our offense scoring. That's ridiculous. When we got into a stall like that, out guys just tried to do it alone and we have to work as a team."

Lewis Ratcliff fired two goals and added five assists for Washington to lead all scorers in the win, while Jeff Zywicki (2G, 4A), Rhys Duch (3G, 1A) and Luke Wiles (3G) paced the Stealth.

Ryan Ward scored two goals and had an assist for three points for Edmonton in the loss, while Dean Hill fired twice. Scott Stewart, rookie Corey Small and Gavin Prout each had one goal and one assist apiece.

Ian Hawksbee scooped 12 loose balls for Edmonton and Brodie Merrill grabbed nine loosies.

Roik earned the win for Washington, while Matt Disher (L) and Brandon Atherton shared duties in the Rush net.

The Rush power-play went 0-4 in the contest and Washington converted 1-3.

Washington lead 4-2 after the first quarter and then broke the game open with seven goals in the second quarter to lead 11-5 at half-time.

Washington scored the first two goals of the game in the opening five minutes before Ward fired Edmonton's first marker of the game and season at 5:08.

Ward, Small, Stewart and Hill also tallied in the opening half, while Washington's Ratcliff fired two goals and added four assist for six points in the first half.

Zywicki and Duch added to the Stealth lead in the third quarter making the score 13-5 at the end of the stanza.

Wiles fired his hat trick goal at 3:22 of the fourth quarter and Tom Johnson added another tally at 11:20 giving Washington a 15-5 advantage before Prout broke Edmonton's second half scoring drought with his first of the season at 12:35 of the quarter and Hill notched his second of the night at 13:45 to close out the scoring.

The Rush next travel to Denver for a Saturday, Jan. 15th battle against the Colorado Mammoth at 7:00 p.m. MT, before Edmonton's home opener Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m. versus the Buffalo Bandits at Rexall Place.

Fans can watch the game on the NLL Network at www.nll.com.

Edmonton's first home game is set for Jan. 23 against the Buffalo Bandits at Rexall Place.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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