The Richmond Roadrunners have lived up to their name to advance to the B.C. Junior B Tier 1 Lacrosse League semi-finals.
Richmond produced two clutch wins on the road to get past the Port Coquitlam Saints in three games — including a 9-8 overtime thriller on Sunday afternoon. The quarter-final match-up featured the league’s fourth and fifth place finishers.
Jordan Roberts’ goal midway through the 10-minute non-sudden death overtime period proved to be the difference thanks to a 46-save performance from standout Finnish import Riku Jokela.
The Roadrunners had rallied from a 6-4 deficit after 40 minutes to take an 8-7 lead thanks to three unanswered goals, including a pair from Thomas Dickson to complete his hat trick. However, the Saints notched the equalizer with just 14 seconds remaining.
Jaden Bourne, Josh Bourne, Chad Lore and Mitchel Ely had the other goals.
The Roadrunners had staved off elimination with an 11-5 win in PoCo two days earlier. A six-goal second period proved to be the difference as the visitors opened up a commanding 8-2 lead.
Ryan Jensen had a huge night with five goals. Liam O’Connor and Roberts added a pair.
The series opened at Minoru with PoCo producing a 16-12 win in overtime.
The Roadrunners will now face the Coquitlam Adanacs in another best-of-three series. Game one goes Friday in Coquitlam. The teams then come to Minoru Arenas for game two on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The teams split a pair of regular season meetings with each winning on the road.
