When Chris Gill limped off the floor early in the game, things looked bleak for the Toronto Rock.

They were trailing the New York Saints 4-1 after one quarter, and one of their top offensive guns had just injured his right ankle.

But Gill returned to score three goals as the Rock rallied for a 13-9 victory Friday night that strengthened their grip on second place in the National Lacrosse League standings.

"They're so fast and they had all that energy in the first quarter," said Rock captain Jim Veltman. "We knew if we stayed close, they'd start to tire.

"We kept telling each other, 'Stay close, stay close.'"

Toronto tied it 4-4 by halftime and scored six consecutive goals, including two by Gill in 54 seconds in the third quarter, to pull away and improve to 4-2 in the seven-team league as an announced crowd of 9,012 roared its approval.

Dan Stroup, Russ Heard and Rory Graham added two goals each, and Matt Giles, Dean Harrison, Kim Squire and Rodd Squire scored one each for Toronto.

For the Saints, Jason Wulder scored three goals, Matt Panetta and Steve Sombrotto had two each, and Eric Seremet and Mark Millon added one.

Toronto coach Les Bartley started thinking about pulling goalie Bob Watson and sending in backup Rob Blasdell when his team fell behind 4-1.

"If they had scored one more and gone up 5-1, I would have pulled Bobby, just for a momentum changer," Bartley said. "I probably would have gone back to him later in the game.

"We had to do something to get our offense started."

Bartley's players, led by Gill, made the move unnecessary.

"We came into the dressing room at the half and said, 'Boys, let's take this game'," said Veltman. "Bobby Watson got stronger as the game went along and that was a key. He's got to be one of the best goaltenders I've ever seen."

Gill, 25, had an ice pack on his ankle afterwards.

"It's not bad," he said. "It's only a little sore."

Linemates Shawn Williams and Ken Millin set up the offensive picks that freed Gill to shoot.

"The goals were mostly screen shots that got through the goalie's five hole," Gill said. "The guys were setting up great picks.

"We really started to click in that second half. If we can work the pick and rolls, we're pretty hard to stop."

Heard got two in a row to make it 9-5 at 12:43 of the 15-minute third quarter and 10-5 just 33 seconds into the fourth quarter.

"I missed a couple in the first half and I talked to Gillie and he told me to go five hole," Heard said. "That's what I did, and it worked.""

Stroup added his second of the night and team-high 14th at 2:36 of the fourth to make it 11-5. New York rallied for three straight goals to narrow the gap to 11-8, but the Rock wasn't going to let this win slip away.

"We came out realy good in the first half but we got frustrated when we had that 4-1 lead and let it slip away," Wulder said. "We started forcing our shots and turning the ball over.

"We gave up a lot of transition goals. It's nice to score three, but when you don't win there's not much to celebrate."

New York coach Scott Huff complained about the Rock's tactics.

"They do a lot of holding, which we tried to make a stink about at the start of the game, but it didn't help," said Huff.

He commended Watson.

"We took some good shots but he made some great saves," Huff said. "And, as a team, they forechecked well and we didn't handle that pressure very well."

Veltman lived up to his nickname, Scoop, by gathering in a game-high 20 loose bals. He also had four assists.

Watson made 38 saves. Sal LoCascio stopped 43.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
New York Saints (1-4)             4  0  1  4  --   9
Toronto Rock (4-2)                1  3  6  3  --  13

NEW YORK SAINTS               TORONTO ROCK
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Wulder         3 - 0     3    Heard          2 - 3     5
Panetta        2 - 1     3    Veltman        0 - 5     5
S Sombrotto    2 - 1     3    Stroup         2 - 2     4
M Millon       1 - 2     3    Gill           3 - 0     3
Seremet        1 - 2     3    Graham         2 - 0     2
Lowe           0 - 3     3    R Squire       1 - 1     2
LoCascio       0 - 1     1    Doyle          0 - 2     2
                              Giles          1 - 0     1 
                              Harrison       1 - 0     1
                              K Squire       1 - 0     1
                              Coyle          0 - 1     1 
                              Millin         0 - 1     1
                              Williams       0 - 1     1 

Shots on goal           47    Shots on goal           56
Saves made by           43    Saves made by           38
   Locascio                      Watson

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH NEW YORK SAINTS ***