Intermediate Nepean Knights lacrosse team wins provincial championship

                

The Intermediate Nepean Knights lacrosse team has won the provincial “C” level championship at the Ontario Lacrosse Festival in Whitby. Nepean defeated Cornwall 5-3 in the one-game final. Intermediate lacrosse players range in age from 17-21. The Knights rolled through the tournament with wins over Hamilton #2 (13-2), Sudbury (7-3), Uxbridge (9-0), and a semi-final win over the Toronto Stars (3-1). Nepean’s only loss was to Mimico (3-0) in the pool stage. This marks the first time since 1991 that Nepean has won an intermediate level provincial lacrosse championship. It’s also the second consecutive year a Nepean team has returned home with an Ontario championship banner; in 2009 the novice Knights #2 team won the “E” level crown.

In the final game, Kyle Drisdelle and Matt Tenute each scored twice in the win over Cornwall. Throughout the tournament, goalies David Joseph and Brayden Krusch were very solid, as they gave up only 12 goals against in six games. Coach Rad Joseph concluded, “Special acknowledgement is given to players Colin Gibbs and Daniel Murawasky and assistant coach Chris Murawasky, as this is their graduating year with the team. What a great way to step aside: as provincial champions.”

Eleven Nepean Knights lacrosse teams were in Whitby for the provincial championships, which ran from July 30 to August 8th. This tournament is the largest youth sporting event in all of Ontario, having surpassed the Bell Capital Cup in terms of participants. The tyke (7-8 year olds), peewee #2 (11-12 year olds), bantam #1 and #2 (13-14 year olds) and midget #2 (15-16 year olds) Knights teams all advanced out of their pools to the quarter-final stage of the tournament. The novice #2 team (9-10 year olds) made it as far as the semi-finals, before losing to St. Catharines #2.

“The association is very pleased that our older boys have returned home as provincial champs. All of our teams competed hard at the provincials. Winning a championship at this level is tough – the pressure is on, there is little room for error, and all of Ontario’s teams take part in this huge, showcase lacrosse event. A provincial championship for Nepean caps a very successful year for our association. We celebrated our 40th anniversary and saw a record high number of boys and girls play lacrosse this season,” said former president Peter Drisdelle,of the Nepean Knights Minor Lacrosse Association.