by Corey McLaughlin | LaxMagazine.com | Twitter | McLaughlin Archive | World Lacrosse 2014
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – The Iroquois Nationals weathered the storm, and took it to the Sharks.
After a two-hour weather delay on Monday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Lyle Thompson and company scored four straight goals out of the break to take control of what was a tie game when the teams headed for shelter, and the Iroquois beat Australia 12-10 in a Blue Division pool play tilt that ended ten minutes short of midnight.
Lyle Thompson scored four goals, including one after the delay to put the Nationals up 10-8 after Jeremy Thompson broke the knotted affair in the waning seconds of the third quarter.
Severe weather delayed the game with 2:37 left in the third quarter and the score tied at 8. Heavy rain, wind and lightening arrived around 9:25 p.m. local time and didn’t leave for more than 90 minutes, after which the teams had a brief warmup and went off and running before a small, but vocal crowd.
The Iroquois went up 12-8, and Australian attackman Nathan Stiglich scored two straight to cut into the lead with less than two minutes left. But the Nationals won the ensuing faceoff on a violation and ran out the rest of the clock.
Iroquois faceoff man Vaughn Harris won 11-of-17 faceoffs, and Jeremy Thompson went 5-for-7 while Australia goalie Tom Vickery finished with 13 saves.
Pool play concludes Tuesday. The Iroquois, who improved to 3-1 in the Blue Division, plays the United States (4-0) at 5 p.m. local time, and Australia (2-2) takes on Canada (3-1) in the final Blue Division tilt before elimination games begin. The top two teams in the division earn byes to the semifinal round, held Thursday.