Will Toronto fans ever see a championship
EVERETT, Wash. - A mistake late in the third quarter cost the Toronto Rock dearly in their quest for a sixth National Lacrosse League title.
Washington scored with Toronto's goalie pulled late in the third quarter as part of an eight-goal barrage in the second half as the Stealth beat the Rock 15-11 on Saturday night to win the NLL's Champion's Cup.
Having already conceded a goal that cut their lead to 10-7 with 12.8 seconds to go in the third, Toronto pulled goalie Bob Watson for a 6-on-5 advantage and a final shot.
But Washington's Eric Martin stole the ball and scored into an empty net with 0.2 seconds left in the quarter to cut the Rock lead to two.
"We made a mistake on the 6-on-5 and let them get that empty-net goal and I think that got their crowd into it and got momentum on their side. We didn't recover and that's on us," said Toronto captain Colin Doyle, who finished with two goals and two assists.
"Their offence is incredibly talented. We just never seemed to regain our confidence. They're a good team. The wheels came off and we couldn't put them back on."
Added Rock head coach Troy Cordingley: "I've gotta blame myself for that. I didn't give clear instructions on the 6-on-5 ... they scored the empty-netter and we couldn't match their intensity from there on in."
Lewis Ratcliff scored five times for Washington, while Rhys Duch added three goals and eight assists in front of a crowd of 8,609.
Paul Rabil, with two, Peter Morgan, Mike Grimes, Cam Sedgwick and Jeff Zywicki also scored for the Stealth, who won their first league title.
Rock forward Kasey Beirnes scored four goals, while Garrett Billings added two goals and two assists. Rob Marshall, Blaine Manning and Stephan Leblanc also scored for Toronto
After Washington's outburst late in the third, the Stealth added two more to tie the game 10-10 with 11:21 left in the fourth.
Ratcliff, a Victoria native, scored to make it 11-10 Washington with 6:33 remaining.
"You can't hold Lewis Ratcliff down," said Stealth head coach Chris Hall. "He beat himself up a lot the first couple games so he did a little work and he did a marvellous job, that's why we got him."
The Stealth took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, but Toronto fought back with six straight and led 7-5 at halftime.
Watson finished with 32 saves, while Tyler Richards turned aside 50 shots for the win.
"We had them on six (goals) for the longest time, but when you have an offence that's very talented it's difficult (to maintain momentum) and then we had to start taking chances to get the ball back earlier. We were just out of our realm and they capitalized when they needed to," Cordingley said.
"We got beat by the better team
