‘Undisciplined’ play hurt A’s in season opener

A slow start ultimately cost the St. Catharines Athletics in their 2018 junior A lacrosse season opener Friday night in Brampton.

The host Excelsiors opened a 5-2 first period lead and never trailed in a 9-7 final.

Discipline was the deciding factor in the loss, according to Athletics assistant coach Rob Taylor.

“Undisciplined, whether it be with penalties or systems,” Taylor explained. “Little things, like missed assignments on D (defence) and bad penalties.”

Seven different goalscorers found the back of the net for St. Catharines: Alex Pace, Kealon Pilon, Sam LeClair, Owen Friesen, Kyler Kilgour, Jake McNabb

and Mason Kamminga.

It was LeClair’s first career junior A goal. The Welland native was the leading scorer for the junior B St. Catharines Spartans heading into Friday night.

Jake Boudreau paced Brampton with two goals and three assists, while both James Whiteford and Campbell Parker both had four-point games with one goal and three helpers.

The A’s finished the game 1-for-6 on the power play. The Excelsiors were 0-for-3 with a shorthanded goal.

The game featured 86 minutes in penalties and three game misconducts as Liam Ham and Kealon Pilon, for St. Catharines; and Andrew Borgatti, for Brampton; hit the showers early.

“There were some good things tonight, but we just need to clean up a bunch of little things,” said Taylor.

The Athletics visited Six Nations on Monday afternoon and will host Kitchener-Waterloo Wednesday for their home opener. Game time at Jack Gatecliff Arena is set for 7:30 p.m.

A’s Acorns:

Shots on goal were not recorded in Brampton. Nick Damude got the start in goal for the Athletics … LeClair, Jacob McMillan and Jacob Johnson were called up from the junior B Spartans, while Gavin McGregor was called up to the A’s from the junior B Welland Generals.