With the crack of a stick slash and the head rush of a back check, Men’s Lacrosse got underway this weekend. The Blues (1-1) plan on getting back to where they left the field last year: in the post-season.
As Head Coach Wayne Copeland began his second season helming the squad, he spoke of the enthusiasm that surrounds the team.
“There’s more of an intensity present,” Copeland said. “We have more players than ever before, and with that we will have a more balanced attack. The team also has broadened the coaching staff, both of whom will help us achieve a better overall strategy for each game.”
New staff and players
Joining Copeland on the sidelines are defensive coach Jordan Wilkinson and bench coach Todd Wilffrey. The staff rounds out with Derek Collins and Scott Reid, who return to instruct the goalies and offence.
The Blues welcomed 25 players to the off-season tryouts, with the crop yielding eight rookies. Most notable of the new faces was JonCarlo Bairos. A goaltender who played at St. Mike’s high school last year, Bairos was the MVP of the Greater Toronto HS Lacrosse league.
“He’s tremendous in net, and we thoroughly enjoy his presence on the team,” Copeland said.
Other rookies playing in front of Bairos include defenders Andre Bruno and Jonathan Moore.
Returning stalwarts include brothers Jon and Nick Reed, with Jon captaining the defence and Nick pacing the attack. Other veterans include Dan Flemming, Ian Parrag, and Adam Robertson, three players from whom Copeland expects big things.
While a strong and youthful core is a positive for the Blues, the team’s weakness will be the lack of size in its defence. U of T lost Steve Hoar to graduation, a massive mid-fielder who took the majority of the face-offs last year. Replacing a league MVP who the team revolved around will be a process.
“We’re a little small strategically,” Copeland said. “We’re not going to overwhelm anyone. As a result, we will need to work a lot harder on offence. We have a new face-off guy in Beau Bassett, who’s winning more than 50 per cent of the draws, and in a field game, winning face-offs is a big deal.”
Post-season rematch
In their next game at Guelph on September 30, Copeland believes the team will build off of last year’s 5-4 campaign, the best in the team’s history, where they lost in the playoffs to Bishops University, 16-4.
Sunday, the Blues hosted the Gaiter team that ended their first foray into the post-season. While U of T mustered a better effort, the losing result remained the same. After trailing 3-2 at the end of the first half, thanks to goalie Bryan Wyshnicki’s phenomenal net play and Robertson’s two goals, the Blues suffered two quick goals before Wyshnicki fell to an injury. Roaming over his net in the third quarter, the keeper was taken out by two Bishop attackers and fell hard, not returning to the game.
Bairos came into steady the Blues. The rookie played well, but the injuries to the Blues, who were already playing without all-star attacker Daniel Fleming, were too much for U of T to overcome, as they were pinned for the 7-2 loss.
“We could have won the game. We should have been up four goals if we had just finished better,” Copeland said. “I can emphasize how much better we played them than last time. In the end we just ran out of gas.”
Bruising battle
The lack of conditioning could have been a result of playing Wilfrid Laurier the day before. From the opening face-off skirmish to the pile of checked bodies that cleared with the closing whistle, U of T defeated the Golden Hawks 6-3 in a bruising battle at back campus.
Laurier was supported by its physically big defence, which did not so much swarm the Blues attackers as engage them in combat. U of T came out gunning, peppering three quick shots at the Golden Hawk net, but with no tally to show on the board.
It was Laurier that struck first, as Chadd Murphy blew by Jon Reed and marked the first goal of the match. The Blues would later tie it, taking advantage of a Golden Hawk penalty. After having the power play attack snuffed out with a stick save, the Laurier goaltender Tyler Handley gave the ball right back and Nick Reed capitalized on the mistake, scoring to keep the teams neck-and-neck at the half.
The off-season rust was noticeable on the Blues. When crisp passes to open men were needed, they went over the outstretched sticks of the would-be scorers instead.
First-game kinks were shed as Robertson put an end to the tie, sneaking a low shot past a screened Handley to put the Blues up 2-1. Soon after, a nifty pass from mid-fielder Mike Harding set up a beautiful goal by Peter Debrone as the Blues went up 3-1.
It was all Robertson after that. The Blues’ mid-fielder scored four goals, including the next three, his second being especially nice. Slashing through the teeth of the Laurier defense, Robertson beat two defenders and shot over a third, his rifled ball tucked in to the bottom left corner of the net.
The game was essentially over at that point, with Robertson’s fourth and two meaningless Laurier goals bringing the end result to 6-3. The Golden Hawk’s neediness for cohesive play turned violent as their overall lack of talent and technique left them with only brawn to turn to. Openly hitting the U of T players when they could, Laurier left the Blues with some black and blues, but that didn’t stop them from wallowing in defeat.
