In
the final weekend of the regular season for the CILL, the Lansing Hot Rods
played their final two games in the Players Indoor Sports Center in Naperville,
IL. The Lansing Hot Rods went into this
final weekend with a 2-3 record and needing to win both games of the weekend to
have a chance at making the playoffs.
Their
first game on September 19th was against the Grand Valley State
Lakers, and it was their second time facing off this year. In the first game, the Hot Rods beat the
Lakers 21-9. However, this meeting was a
little different. It was a much closer
contest with it even being a 1 point game after three quarters. The Hot Rods eventually came out on top after
scoring 3 goals in the 4th and winning by a score of 9-6, and what
was most impressive about this victory for the Hot Rods, was that they only had
10 players for the whole game, which means they had a very short bench to work
with. Leading the way point wise for
Lansing was Tyler Ryan, with a hat trick and 2 assists (Grosse Ile, MI), and
then the three Kyles led the way with Kyle Goehring (Fort Wayne, IN) netting 2 goals, Kyle Dommermuth (Erie, PA) getting 1
goal and dishing out two assists, and Kyle Borek (Lansing, MI) getting 1 goal
and 2 assists as well. In goal for the Hot
Rods was Sean Murphy (Cincinnatti, Ohio), who is a current member of the
Ireland national box lacrosse team competing in World Indoor Lacrosse
Championship (WILC), (6 GA, 38 SVs, 86%).
Murphy achieved a season high in SV% in this game. All but two players had a point in this
game. The Hot Rods looked to build off
this tremendous teamwork in their next game in hopes of clinching a final spot
in the playoffs.
Other Notables: Nick Knauf (DeWitt, MI) (0g, 2a),
Kevin Goehring (Fort Wayne, IN) (0g, 1a), David Strzelecki (1g, 0a), Ryan
Ludera (1g, 1a).
In
the pivotal second game of the weekend, and the last regular season game of the
2015 year, the Lansing Hot Rods faced the defending champs, the Chicago Outlaws,
who hosted the weekend tournament. This
was the second time these two teams were facing off this season, with the
Outlaws winning the first meeting 16-11 in Grandville, MI. The Hot Rods came out on fire and were up 3
to 2 at the end of the first. They then
lost the lead in the second, but it remained a close battle with the score
being 6 to 8 at half. However, with this
being the second game in a row and still only having 10 players, the Hot Rods
gave it all they had, but eventually ran
out of gas in the 2nd half with the short bench and only scored one 2nd half
goal. This resulted in the Outlaws
winning 14-7. The Hot Rods showed some
heart and perseverance in this game to keep it close for as long as they did
even with the short bench. Tyler Ryan
(Michigan State) (4g, 2a) even had a breakout game with a star 6 point
performance and demonstrated many effective swim dodges. As #91 Kyle Borek said about Ryan, “Tyler is
an elite member of the Lansing swim and dive club.” Kyle Goehring (Indiana Tech) contributed
another goal and two assists, along with Kyle Dommermuth (Indiana Tech) tacking
on an astonishing three assists. In net,
Sean Murphy (University of Dayton) also had a star performance and made many
tough saves that kept the Hot Rods in the game, showing why he made the Irish
National Team.
Other Notables: Nick Knauf (Indiana Tech) (0g, 1a),
Kyle Borek (Olivet College) (0g, 2a), Kevin Goehring (0g, 1a), Patrick Turner (1g,
1a), Ryan Ludera (0g, 1a).
This was the final Game
of the year for the Lansing Hot Rods, who ended up barely miss the playoffs and
finishing in 5th place on the season (top 4 travel to Pittsburgh next week for
playoffs), with Pittsburgh taking the final spot at 3W and 4L while winning the
tiebreaker over the Hot Rods to gain that final spot. However, this is not without saying this
wasn’t a successful season for the Hot Rods, who finished 3-4, which was a
great improvement over last year’s record of 0-8. They are only getting better, and although
they may have just missed the playoffs by a hair this year, don’t sleep on the
Hot Rods next year as they look to further improve and come out with a winning record
next year! Good luck to the final four
teams that are heading to Pitt, and congratulations to the Lansing Hot Rods for
a tremendous year!
-Andrew Rolls
Look out for more Lansing Hot Rods game recaps by Andrew Rolls as he takes over as the Lansing Hot Rods journalists and reporter.
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