Sunday, September 27, 2015

Weekend Three Recap

            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.

Andrew Rolls is a Sports Management major at Grand Valley State University and can be followed on twitter @Spartan1225 and on Instagram @ARolls12.  You can see more articles of his at his personal sports blog at www.rollsreport.weebly.com


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