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'They were the better team in the end'

Langley coach points to pivotal game four overtime loss as turning point
Victoria Shamrocks Lacrosse club celebrate after beating the Langley Thunder 4-3 in Overtime
Goalie Matt Vinc stops a shot while defender Scott Carnegie disrupts Langley Thunder shooter Mark Matthews the Shamrocks 4-3 overtime win in Game 4 at Bear Mountain Arena.

There will be no seventh game or three-peat for the Langley Thunder.

The senior A lacrosse team lost 8-3 to the host Victoria Shamrocks in game six of the Western Lacrosse Association championship series.

The game was played Aug. 29 at Bear Mountain Arena.

The Shamrocks scored five unanswered goals in the second period to snap a 1-1 tie and take the insurmountable lead.

Langley did cut the lead to 6-2 prior to intermission, but only got one more goal the rest of the way.

Mark Matthews, Athan Iannucci and Garrett Billings had the Thunder goals.

Nick Rose was tagged with the loss, making 14 saves on 18 shots. He was replaced by Brodie MacDonald who made a dozen saves on 16 shots.

“We kind of fell apart (late in the series),” said Thunder coach Rod Jensen.

“We didn’t do the things we needed to do to score.

“They were the better team in the end.”

A pivotal point in the series was game four.

“Sports is a funny thing,” Jensen said.

“Up 2-1 (in the series) in overtime in game four with a chance to go up 3-1. But they won that game and it gave them momentum.”

The Shamrocks then won the pivotal game five at the Langley Events Centre — the only time in the six games the home team lost — and closed things out in game six.

“We are disappointed,” Jensen said.

“On paper, I thought we had a pretty good team.”

The Thunder (11-5-2), who edged the Shamrocks (11-7-0) for the regular season title by two points, were going for their third consecutive WLA title.