EVERETT — Stealth fans know all about the “dynamic duo” of Rhys Duch and Lewis Ratcliff. The two have thrilled fans at Comcast Arena since the team’s arrival in Everett a little more than a year ago.
After Washington’s 16-15 overtime win over Minnesota, the Swarm know all about the “dynamic
duo” too — a lot more than they want to know.
With the win, all the Stealth need is to win their final game, or have Minnesota lose one of its final two to lock up second place in the National Lacrosse League’s West Division. The second seed in the West would mean the Stealth host a first-ro
und playoff game, most likely against the Swarm.
Duch had the game-winner for Washington just 30 seconds into the overtime session; it was his fifth goal of the game. Duch also had five assists for the Stealth.
“What can I say? He continues to do it,” Stealth coach Chris Hall said. “When the game is on the line, clutch guys rise to the occasion.”
Ratcliff had the Stealth’s first sock-trick of the season, scoring six goals and dishing out five assists. Ratcliff had the equalizer with 20.8 seconds remaining in the game that forced overtime.
“Sometimes, you just feel good when you are shooting and you feel like the net is a little bigger than it usually is,” Ratcliff said. “Sometime you feel hot and you just got to take it when you got it and tonight was one of those games — I like those games.”
Together, Duch and Ratcliff combined to score 21 of the Stealth’s 39 points in the game.
“Two phenomenal lacrosse players, one on the right one on the left,” Hall said. “Who do you concentrate on? They both are superb players, the league statistics show it. We are happy to have them.”
Tyler Richards started the game in goal for the Stealth after Matt Roik gave Richards a rest last weekend against Buffalo. But 22 minutes into the game, after Richards had given up seven goals, Hall made a change and went to Roik. Roik, who was named NLL defensive player of the week for his performance against Buffalo, stepped up again. He saved 22 of the 30 shots he faced, including key saves in the fourth period that kept the game close.
“Two giant games in a row for him,” Hall said. “Sometimes a change gets you going. We have tons of confidence in both of them obviously, so it just seemed to be the right time to make the move.”
After Minnesota forward Sean Pollock gave the Swarm an early 1-0 lead, the Stealth scored four unanswered goals, two by Duch and two by Ratcliff, to take a 4-1 lead. Minnesota added a goal late in the first quarter to make the score 4-2 after one period.
But just over a minute into the second quarter, Stealth transition player Paul Rabil was penalized five minutes with a game misconduct for head-butting, which seemed to deflate Washington.
The Swarm scored five of the game’s next six goals to take a 7-5 lead, which is when Hall made the goalkeeping change. With a new fire, the Stealth scored three of the next four goals to tie the score 8-8 at halftime.
Minnesota appeared to make a defensive adjustment on Ratcliff, making it difficult for him to get it going in the second half.
But it did open the floor up for Duch, who scored the first two Stealth goals of the second half.
“First of all, it was basically give the ball to Lewis and he is scoring so then the defense had to start worrying about him and it gave me some room to roam,” Duch said.
The two teams alternated blows until late into the fourth quarter, but it was the Swarm who took the late advantage 15-14 advantage on a goal by forward Aaron Wilson with 2:07 to play in the game.
But Ratcliff couldn’t deny the 4,864 fans at Comcast Arena their first sock-trick of the season, scoring beating Minnesota goalkeeper Nick Patterson from 25 feet out with just 20.8 seconds to play, setting the stage for Duch in overtime.
It didn’t take too long for Duch to take advantage, after the Stealth controlled overtime’s opening faceoff, Duch beat his defender and took a leap toward the goal beating Patterson for the game-winner just 30 seconds into the game.
It was the Stealth’s third overtime game in a row, their second victory in those games.
“I’m tired of them (overtime games), I’m like having a heart attack on the bench every game. A blowout win would be nice, but they don’t seem to happen in this league and I don’t expect one the rest of the way,” Ratcliff said.
Stealth 16, Swarm 15 (OT)
At Comcast Arena
Minnesota 2 6 4 3 0 — 15
Washington 4 4 5 2 1 — 16
1st Quarter-1, Minnesota, S. Pollock 6 (K. Ross, C. Crawford), 0:35 (pp). 2, Washington, L. Ratcliff 34 (C. Smith), 1:20. 3, Washington, R. Duch 36 (C. Conn, L. Ratcliff), 5:45. 4, Washington, R. Duch 37 (L. Ratcliff), 10:05. 5, Washington, L. Ratcliff 35 (C. Sedgwick), 11:16. 6, Minnesota, A. Wilson 19 (J. Shewchuk, R. Morgan), 12:41. Penalties-T. Johnson Was (slashing), 0:16; T. Hass Min (illegal cross checking), 3:30; T. Hill Min (roughing, game misconduct), 7:43; K. Ross Min (roughing), 7:43; J. Bloom Was (roughing), 7:43.
2nd Quarter-7, Minnesota, R. Benesch 38 (A. Wilson, C. Crawford), 2:04 (pp). 8, Minnesota, A. Wilson 20 (K. Ross, R. Benesch), 2:39. 9, Washington, L. Ratcliff 36 (C. Conn, L. Wiles), 4:13. 10, Minnesota, R. Benesch 39 (S. Bennett, J. Sullivan), 4:48. 11, Minnesota, R. Morgan 6 6:23. 12, Minnesota, R. Benesch 40 (A. Wilson, K. Croswell), 7:25. 13, Washington, L. Ratcliff 37 (R. Duch), 9:15 (sh). 14, Washington, E. Martin 4 (M. Grimes), 10:09. 15, Minnesota, A. Suitor 5 10:32. 16, Washington, L. Ratcliff 38 (L. Wiles), 13:21 (pp). Penalties-J. Shewchuk Min (slashing), 1:04; P. Rabil Was (game misconduct), 1:04; B. Snider Was (holding), 1:04; E. Martin Was (illegal cross checking), 7:54; J. Cinosky Min (high sticking), 11:04.
3rd Quarter-17, Minnesota, J. Shewchuk 15 (T. Hass), 1:14. 18, Washington, R. Duch 38 (C. Smith), 2:49. 19, Washington, R. Duch 39 (L. Ratcliff, C. Conn), 5:16. 20, Minnesota, T. Hass 8 (A. Suitor), 5:24. 21, Minnesota, C. Crawford 23 (R. Benesch, M. Giles), 6:30. 22, Washington, T. Johnson 10 (R. Duch, L. Ratcliff), 6:53. 23, Washington, C. Sedgwick 16 (R. Duch), 10:36. 24, Washington, C. Conn 12 (L. Ratcliff, R. Duch), 11:03. 25, Minnesota, A. Wilson 21 (R. Benesch, K. Ross), 14:33 (pp). Penalties-A. Wilson Min (roughing), 7:25; L. Wiles Was (holding), 8:15; N. Talbot Min (holding), 9:34; K. Sorensen Was (holding), 14:15.
4th Quarter-26, Minnesota, K. Ross 8 (S. Pollock), 5:15. 27, Minnesota, K. Ross 9 10:43. 28, Washington, E. Martin 5 (M. Roik), 11:47. 29, Minnesota, A. Wilson 22 (R. Benesch), 12:53. 30, Washington, L. Ratcliff 39 (C. Conn, R. Duch), 14:40 (ea). Penalties-C. Hodgson Was (holding), 2:19.
OT Quarter-31, Washington, R. Duch 40 (K. Hartzell, E. Martin), 0:30. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Minnesota 10-16-11-14-0-51. Washington 18-14-16-11-1-60.
Power Play Opportunities-Minnesota 3 of 6; Washington 1 of 5.
Faceoffs-Minnesota 10 of 35; Washington 25 of 35.
Goalies-Minnesota, Croswell 1-2-0 (41 shots-30 saves); Patterson 5-6-0 (19 shots-14 saves). Washington, Richards 5-5-0 (21 shots-14 saves); Roik 3-2-0 (30 shots-22 saves).
A-4,864
Referees-Todd Labranche (12), Scott MacDonald (67).
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