A sure win almost turned into a close loss for the Lacoka lacrosse midget team over the weekend.
The Locos C-Key Trucking Midgets looked like they were a shoe-in to win against the Olds Stingers Saturday, April 23 at home. At the end of the first period the Locos were up 6-1 and with the way they were playing, the win seemed inevitable.
In the second period Lacoka’s strong offensive plays kept their confidence up. The second ranked Locos looked like they were on their way to trouncing the seventh ranked Stingers. By the end of the second period the score had changed to 11-6 with the same five-point cushion.
The tide turned relatively fast in the third period, however, with the Locos doing everything they could just to keep up to Olds who seemed to have found their sting.
The first 10 minutes of the third period brought a series of shot attempts on the Stingers’ net but their defence found some reserve strength. The Locos’ confidence waned and the Stingers found some rejuvenation after scoring three important goals in quick succession.
Lacoka coach Cam Green said the biggest struggle the team had in this game was staying confident throughout the game. “We’ve got all the skill in the world on our team. We just lost the mindset out there.”
With the game now sitting at 11-9 and Olds looking unstoppable; Lacoka was in the throes of a third period slump. They struggled to find an opportunity to score. But score they did.
A solid goal by Lacoka brought the game t0 12-9 leaving a better point gap for the home team. The Stingers were hungry to turn the game around after being down by so many points and they managed another goal with the score standing at 12-10 with just minutes left in regulation time.
“They (Stingers) didn’t give up and they weren’t giving up,” said Green. “Maybe we thought we had the game in the bag and let things go.”
“To me it’s a mind set,” he added.
All the Locos would have do was to hold on, which they did and managed to keep the Stingers at bay for the rest of the game securing a 12-10 win. Green said he maintained a positive focus on the bench to help keep the players focused on the task at hand.