Bellie report – @ Victoria Shamrocks – June 22nd, 2012

For the second night in a row and the third time in six days, the Bellies were back in action on Friday when they paid a visit to the Victoria Shamrocks. This was the second meeting of the season for these teams, a rematch of the Bellies June 7th overtime win which many called the best lacrosse they’d seen in years. That victory stretched the Bellies’ domination of the Shamrocks out past the two year mark, not since June 18th, 2010 had they lost against Victoria.
Arriving at Bear Mountain Arena, the Bellies were short a few players, notable among them was their starting goaltender. This gave Neil Tyacke his first opportunity to show fans what he’s capable of and why he was the back-up that the Bellies’ staff chose. Suiting up alongside him was Junior B call-up, Spencer England.

In the first period, the Bellies were outscored 4-2. At the same time they were outshot by the home team. Tyler Crompton got New Westminster on the board first then Sean Robinson followed suit. After getting up by two goals, the Shamrocks seemed to wake up and fired four of their own goals past the line.

For the next twenty minutes, the tables had completely turned and the Bellies scored four unanswered goals. Scoring from Alex and Ilija Gajic, Mike Berekoff and another goal from Sean Robinson afforded the Bellies a two goal lead at the second intermission. Tyacke shut the Shamrocks out for the entire period and for nearly 29 minutes in total.

The third period became something of a shoot-out with twelve goals being scored in total. Unfortunately for the Bellies, only four of them belonged to them. Though Berekoff and Alex Gajic both netted their second of the night and Jeff Zywicki added two, the Shamrocks went on a tear that seems like it would never end. Their eight goals at the end of the game gave them a two goal lead at the time of the final buzzer.

In sixty minutes, Tyacke faced 54 shots, making 44 saves. The Bellies took 40 shots.

Alex Gajic was credited with six points for the night while brother Ilija had five. Mike Berekoff and Corbyn Tao both earned four points and Tao’s performance won him the title of WLA Third Star of the Game.

Visit the gallery of photos courtesy of David Zuskind or if you’d like to watch the webcast again or for the first time, visit the archive at the WLA site.