The New Westminster Salmonbellies had been there before and acted like it.

They knew their Western Lacrosse Association semifinal series against the Langley Thunder was a stepping stone to the Mann Cup. They made sure they took that step by sweeping the best-of-seven series capped off by a 10-4 victory in Game 4 in Langley on Tuesday.

“The guys know how to up their game for the playoffs. They’ve been here a few times. I think it’s a big difference,” said Salmonbellies head coach Bob Salt.

Despite being outshot 33-17, the Thunder hung with the Salmonbellies for the first two periods trailing 5-4. But a four-goal outburst in a span of two minutes midway through the third period busted the game open and ended any hope the Thunder had of a miracle. The breakout was ignited by Peter Morgan who drove the floor for an unassisted goal that lifted the New West bench.

“They’re a good lacrosse team,” said Salt. “I thought we battled them pretty good. If anything, they probably got disheartened a little bit, they thought it was going to be a bit easier than it was. I don’t think they thought we were as good as we were.”

The Salmonbellies scoring depth showed through Tuesday with 10 players scoring goals. Joining Morgan on the scoresheet were Jordan Hall, Peter McFetridge, Jordan McBride, Martin Cummings, Scott Stewart, Ilija Gajic, Cliff Smith, Bob Snider and Ian Hawksbee. Smith and McBridge also had two assists while Gajic took 13 shots on former New West goalie Joe Bell, Jr.

“We had tons of shots, but they weren’t good shots,” said Salt. “I didn’t think we played very well. They played pretty good defence against us and we were shooting from all over the place. But in the third period we kind of got to them.”

Tuesday’s victory came on the heels of a 15-7 win in Langley on Friday followed by a 14-7 victory at Queen’s Park Arena on Sunday.

On Sunday, the Salmonbellies also spread the scoring out with four players having four-point performances. McFetridge had three goals and an assist while Stewart, Jamie Floris and Gajic had two of each. McBride and Hall both had a goal and two assists while Tyler Crompton had a pair of goals. Curtis Manning also scored for New West.

McBride had a big game Friday with three goals and two assists. Smith matched his five points with a goal and four assists. Gajic and Stewart also had hat tricks as well as a helper while McFetridge had a pair of goals. Floris and Crompton had singles.

The Salmonbellies will play the Coquitlam Adanacs in the WLA final after the A's downed the favoured Victoria Shamrocks 13-9 Wednesday to take their semifinal against the regular-season champions 4-1.

Like the ’Bellies, the Adanacs have upped their level in the playoffs now that they've got their full squad in town.

“They’re way better [than the regular season] and Victoria doesn’t seem to be nearly the team they were during the regular season. I don’t know what’s happened there. They don’t seem to be playing the same,” Salt said.

The schedule for the WLA final (all games start at 7:45 p.m.:

Saturday, Aug. 15 – @Queen's Park

Tuesday, Aug. 18 – @Coquitlam

Thursday, Aug. 20 – @Queen's Park

Saturday, Aug. 22 – @Coquitlam

Monday, Aug. 24 – @Queen's Park*

Wednesday, Aug. 26 – @Coquitlam*

Friday, Aug. 28 – @Queen's Park*

*if necessary

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