Trailing 7-2 late in the third quarter on Saturday, Zach Manns was able to receive a pass from Mike Messenger and scored to get on the board for the Saskatchewan Rush.
Remarkably, around 25 minutes later, he’d score one of the most memorable goals of his lacrosse career in overtime to guarantee victory for the Rush on their home floor.
“That was probably the best, honestly,” said Manns. “I don’t think I’ve scored an OT winner, maybe ever in my life in box lacrosse. That was certainly a special one.”
Manns is coming off a career night against the Halifax Thunderbirds, scoring six of his team’s seven goals in the second half including a run of five-straight goals in the fourth quarter in under five minutes as part of a 9-8 OT victory.
It was a night made even more impressive following the loss of superstar Robert Church, who received a cross-check between whistles and left the game in the third quarter.
Playing in his first career National Lacrosse League game on Saturday, forward Levi Anderson was front row to the show that his teammate was putting on.
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Anderson added it was a celebratory mood for Manns and the Rush following a rocky start to the night for the team.
Saskatchewan started slow out of the gate with Halifax burying their first goal just 25 seconds into the game, only finding the back of the net twice in the opening half.
While Manns helped pull the Rush into the fight, Anderson was able to make his own mark as well by scoring the first goal of his NLL career in thrilling fashion to tie the game against Halifax with 5:41 left in regulation.
“It was very exciting,” said Anderson. “I like to use the swim move quite a bit and it worked to my favour there.
“The rest was history.”
As for Church’s injury, co-head coach Jimmy Quinlan said Tuesday that the belief is the veteran forward suffered a high-ankle injury which will likely keep him out of their Week 4 contest against Rochester.
“He’s actually visiting a doctor in Vancouver where he lives to get a bit of a scan,” said Quinlan. “We don’t expect to have him, if we do it’s a bonus. We’ve been saying all along that we’ve had some tough decisions in terms of the guys that we can’t get into the lineup.
“As much as we are going to miss Robert Church if he’s out, it presents another opportunity to get a look at a young guy who we think can play in this league.”
Now with a pair of overtime wins under their belt to begin the season, the Rush will hit the road to battle the Rochester Knighthawks on Saturday.
However, they’re hoping to not need as many fireworks to improve on their 2-0 start to the NLL season.
“We’ve had two bad starts essentially and had to crawl back in the second half,” said Manns. “That’s not the style of lacrosse you want to play for a full season. I think just getting there early, dialing it in practice and shoot-around, and starting on time is the biggest thing.”
The Rush and Knighthawks will square off at 6:00 pm on Saturday, with Saskatchewan’s next home game coming on Dec. 28, hosting the Philadelphia Wings.
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