SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — They began lacking players, a place to play and equipment, but that just proved to be one chapter of a storybook season for a young Summerside lacrosse team.
“We began in late April and we didn’t expect that we would even have a team because we have never had one before (at the under-13 level),” said head coach Skyler Hardwick. “We put the word out and at first we didn’t even have enough players to form a team, but then a few more signed up so we had just enough to field a team with no subs basically.
“We couldn’t get any field times, so we got the Parkside (Elementary School) gym and started there. We didn’t even have nets or cones or anything, just a few bare essentials like a few balls.”
The Summerside under-13 team, which eventually built a 14-player roster, would go on to win the provincial under-13 championship in its first year.
“We were all really happy and that moment when the buzzer went off it was a pretty big deal,” said Summerside midfielder and co-captain Isaac MacLean, who remembered the team’s inauspicious start.
“We only had seven people showing up for practice and then all of a sudden some more people started showing up and we found some places to play,” said Isaac, 13. “We just kept getting better.”
Once the roster and field times were secured, the team began practising and setting some goals for league play against Cornwall, Stratford and Souris.
Summerside opened the regular-season schedule by going winless in its first two games. That included Cornwall staging a come-from-behind win in the opener.
“A lot of the kids were pretty disheartened by that, but I told them we just lost the one battle but we still have the whole season,” said Hardwick, who played the last three years with the University of New Brunswick lacrosse team.
Improved in all areas
Summerside continued to work hard and that resulted in improvements in all areas.
“Passing the ball, being able to work as a team,” said Isaac, who has been playing the sport for four years. “Our first game of the year, no one would pass and would try to run through six defencemen and at the end of the season we were cycling the ball around, calling plays and being a good team.”
In the provincials, Summerside tied Stratford 4-4 and defeated Souris 13-0.
“Our record was good enough for us to get into the championship (game against Cornwall),” added Hardwick.
Summerside, led by Isaac’s four goals, jumped out to a 2-0 lead en route to a 5-2 victory in the gold-medal game. Noah Lynch, an under-11-aged player who played as a call-up, netted Summerside’s other goal while Hardwick noted 13-year-old goalie Ethan Reeves “had a great game.”
As a lacrosse goalie, Ethan’s responsibilities are much more than making saves.
“I have to make certain calls of plays and if I clear it out the wrong way they could easily get a shot on net and that could be the game,” explained Ethan, who has been playing lacrosse for four years.
Hardwick pointed out the contributions of Riley MacAusland and Asa Lye, who made “clutch defensive plays to keep Cornwall’s offence at bay in the second half.”
Ethan, who also served as a team co-captain, said, "It was the best feeling” when the final buzzer sounded.
"It means a lot because it proves all the work we put in the whole year is worth it.”
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