Lazers Waste Chances and Lose to Wings, 5-4

The Lazers had plenty of chances to overtake the Wichita Wings Sunday night, but in the end things turned out as they usually do and they were beaten, 5-4, before a Forum crowd of 3,695.

After the Lazers had failed to score on five consecutive power-plays, Stuart Lee took a long pass from Beto and headed the ball past Wichita goalkeeper Seamus McDonagh during the sixth power-play to tie the score at 4-4 with 2:17 to play.

But Wichita forward Chico Borja got a rebound off the glass in the Lazer zone with 15 seconds left and, from a few feet out, managed to bounce the ball off Lazer goalkeeper David Brcic’s leg and into the net, completing his hat-trick and handing the Lazers their 13th defeat in their last 14 games.

“They (the Lazer defenders) stepped away from me, and Mike (Fox) hit it off the board,” said Borja, who has 28 goals this season. “I was there and put it away.”

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Wings (16-16). The Lazers fell to 7-23.

According to Lazer Coach Keith Tozer, it’s the Lazers’ defense and not their power-play which needs the most work.

“We hit the post on a lot of the shots (on the power-play),” Tozer said. “But our guys were just running around out there, ball watching and expecting the other guys to do the work.”

The Lazers looked sharp both offensively and defensively in the first quarter during which they held the Wings scoreless while jumping out to a 2-0 lead.

Just 1:17 into the game, Zizinho took a centering pass from Don Ebert and headed the ball just over McDonagh’s head, to give the Lazers a 1-0 lead. Then, on a free-kick in the Wichita zone with just under 5:00 left, Greg Ion passed the ball to Stuart Lee, who beat McDonagh from 15 feet out.

In the second quarter, however, things started to go the Wings’ way.

Operating on a power-play 8:00 into the quarter, Borja needed just eight seconds to score his first goal from 25 feet out after taking a long pass from Barry Wallace.

The Lazers, who had three first-half chances with the man advantage, failed in each while giving up the tying goal to former UCLA standout Dale Ervine, who took a short pass from Fox and scored the short-handed goal from 15 feet, making it 2-2.

Ten seconds into the third period, Ebert, who scored four goals in his first game as a Lazer, accidentally put the ball into the Lazer net, giving the Wings a 3-2 lead.

Ebert made up for it 7:35 into the third period by scoring an unassisted goal from 15 feet out.

Borja got his second goal 31 seconds into the fourth quarter when he took a pass from Dave Hoggan and scored from 25 feet out, giving the Wings a 4-3 lead.