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STEALTH ADVANCE WITH 20-16 WIN OVER JAX

San Jose shows firepower with 20-goal night

04/27/2009

The San Jose Stealth advanced to the West Division Final by defeating the Portland LumberJax 20-16 on Friday night at the Rose Garden. It's the first time a team has scored 20 or more goals in a professional indoor lacrosse playoff game since 1994, when Buffalo defeated Philadephia 26-15 in the championship game. The Stealth will face the winner of Sunday's Colorado-Calgary game in the West Final next weekend.

The Stealth advance to the West Division Final for the second time in their history and in the past three years (2007).

The game got off to a fast scoring start. San Jose led 6-4 after the first quarter. Five different Stealth players scored, while the Jax had four players score in the first. Portland goaltender Matt Disher, whose strong play helped the Jax reach the playoffs, was pulled after allowing six goals in the quarter.

San Jose added five goals in the second, including a pair by Cam Sedgwick, and took an 11-7 lead into halftime.

Portland could not keep up with the San Jose offense. The Stealth scored seven times in the third to break the game open. Rhys Duch scored all three of his goals in the quarter, as the Stealth led 18-11 and went on to the 20-16 victory.

Amazingly, San Jose had such balanced scoring that no player scored more than three goals. Duch, Jeff Zywicki and Frank Resetarits eache scored three times, while Sedgwick, Colin Doyle and Tom Johnson scored twice. Tyler Richards weathered the storm in the San Jose net, allowing 16 goals while picking up the victory.

Peter Morgan led Portland with four goals. Brodie Merrill, Derek Malawsky, Ryan Powell and Cory Conway each scored twice.

The LumberJax finish their 2009 season with a 9-8 record. The Stealth improve to 8-9 and await the winner of Sunday's game.