Walker freshman player of the year
Former Peterborough Laker Steve Toll coaches Oshawa’s Maxwell Heights to perfect 4-0 at Crestwood Lax Classic
A familiar face to Peterborough lacrosse fans guided Oshawa’s Maxwell Heights Mustangs to victory in the third annual Crestwood Lax Classic.
Steve Toll, who retired from the Peterborough Lakers after their 2010 Mann Cup win, coached Maxwell Heights to a 4-0 record and a 5-2 win over the host Crestwood Mustangs in the final at the Fleming Sports Field Complex.
Maxwell Heights took an early 2-0 lead and Crestwood twice battled back to within a goal at 2-1 and 3-2 before a couple of late tallies sealed the visitors’ win.
It’s the first tournament victory for the Oshawa school since Toll revived the lacrosse program there last season. He guided them to an OFSAA appearance in their first season.
“We had a really good first season and the teachers have put in a lot of time and effort,” Toll said. “It’s our first championship so we’re pretty proud of the boys.”
Toll said he’s blessed to have some good ball players like brothers Devan and Parker Pipher who scored four of their five goals, Devan had a hat trick, with Owen Young also scoring.
Crestwood proved to be their toughest opponent.
“We knew Peterborough was going to be a tough team being from the Boro who live and die lacrosse,” Toll said. “Our boys played well and our goalie played great.”
Crestwood was 3-1 with their lone loss in the final. They beat Quebec’s Stanstead College 7-6 in their opener, doubled Port Credit 6-3 and beat Moira 10-0. Nick Towle scored the two goals in the final.
“It was a good day overall,” said Crestwood coach Wade Wiggins. “We’re a little disappointed not to come out winning it all but Maxwell Heights is a big school with a lot of experience and a lot of depth. It was a good test for us. I don’t think we need to hang our heads. They’re obviously well coached. Steve Toll knows what he’s doing. He played the game. They have some set plays and set systems and we’re getting there. I treat these as learning experiences for both myself and the players.”
Crestwood was COSSA’s AA rep at OFSAA last year and Wiggins said that’s the goal again this season.
Mustangs player Quinn Hanna thought it was a good start to the season following up a league opening win Tuesday against Thomas A. Stewart Griffins.
“We feel pretty good about ourselves,” Hanna said. “We came second place today to a pretty good team, an OFSAA calibre team. Everyone played our best. We have nowhere else to go but to improve. That was a good test for us.”
The Kawartha league this season has just four teams with St. Peter’s and Holy Cross the other two.
“The expectation is nothing less than to win Kawartha,” said Hanna. “We’re hoping to go to OFSAA this year and have a good showing.”
Crestwood felt they had enough scoring chances to win but had trouble solving Oshawa’s goalie.
“They have a lot of skilled guys on that team,” Hanna said. “We’re still improving and working on plays. They executed their plays very well and had really good goaltending. That’s about what it came down to.”
Lindsay’s I.E. Weldon Wildcats won the B final defeating Stanstead 7-3.
Peterborough’s Ethan Walker wasnamedtheBigEastConference Men’s Lacrosse Freshman of the Year on Wednesday.
The University of Denver Pioneers rookie leads his team in points with 59 in 13 games and is tied with senior Connor Cannizzaro for the team lead in goals with 33. Denver, in search of its second NCAA title in three years is ranked No. 2 in the country with an 11-2 record.
He is the Big East leader in freshman scoring and was also named to the Big East First AllStar Team.
The graduate of the Culver Academy prep school in Indiana was an All-American last year in his final high school season.
He’s represented Canada internationally and is a key member of the Peterborough Merit Precision Jr. A Lakers.
“It feels amazing, although I can’t take all the credit,” Walker told the Denver Post. “Our whole team, we all do things together and I feel that this is more than a team thing than an individual thing.”
Walker recorded hat tricks in his first three NCAA games and has scored three goals or more on eight occasions.