By Craig Rybczynski – July 23, 2010
The Six Nations Arrows took a 1-0 lead in their Ontario Lacrosse Association Junior “A” Semifinal series with an 8-6 win over the Whitby Warriors last night. The Arrows netted five of the game’s last seven goals to erase a 4-3 second-quarter deficit en route to a victory on their home floor at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.

“It was really good winning, especially without some of our key players in the lineup,” said Head Coach and Knighthawks defenseman Marshall Abrams. “They beat us in both games during the regular season so for the boys to come out with a depleted lineup and win made me pretty happy with their play.”

The Arrows were led by three-point efforts from Jim Purves (2+1) and Alex Kedoh Hill (0+3). Earlier in the day, Hill was named a First Team All-Star by the Ontario Junior “A” Lacrosse Council. Randy Johnson was stellar in goal in a 32-save effort. Johnson was also the winner of a league award, sharing the Robert Melville Memorial Award with teammate David “The Big Fish” Diruscio, as the circuit’s top goalies.

The game was evenly played through the first period with each team scoring twice. Kraig Maracle gave the Arrows their first lead of the night with a goal at the five-minute mark from Elijah Printup and Ryan Dilks. Whitby, however, responded with two goals to grab a 4-3 advantage. Zach Palmer’s second of the contest gave the Warriors the lead. The Arrows then put up goals by Derek Searle, Johnny Powless and Purves to pull ahead 6-4 after two quarters.

Joey Cupido opened the third quarter with a key goal, scoring shorthanded at 7:44 to open up a three-goal lead. Whitby’s Curtis Knight cut the lead to two 50 seconds later, but Purves iced the victory with his second marker of the game.

“Goals like that are always big. Joey cut right down the middle and was one-on-one with the goalie and buried it,” said Abrams.

The best-of-seven series shifts to Whitby on Saturday, July 24th for an 8:00 p.m. faceoff. Abrams admitted that he expects a full lineup Saturday for Game Two, which includes the return of Knighthawks forward Peter Jacobs.

“They will all be back to play in a tough barn like Whitby,” said Abrams. “We have to play better and harder than we did last night.”

ONTARIO LACROSSE ASSOCIATION
SEMIFINALS
(2) Six Nations Arrows leads (3) Whitby Warriors, 1-0
Game 1  Whitby 6, Six Nations 8
Game 2  Six Nations at Whitby, Iroquois Park, Sat. July 24, 8PM
Game 3  Whitby at Six Nations, Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, Sun. July 25, 7PM
Game 4  Six Nations at Whitby, Iroquois Park, Tues. July 27, 8PM
Game 5  Whitby at Six Nations, Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, Wed. July 28, 8PM*
Game 6  Six Nations at Whitby, Iroquois Park, Fri. July 30, 8PM*
Game 7  Whitby at Six Nations, Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, Sat. July 31, 7PM*
* if necessary
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