Bantam Athletics golden in Orangeville
St. Catharines edges Oakville in gold medal game at provincials
The St. Catharines Athletics bantam lacrosse team capped off an impressive season with a golden finish.
The Athletics, ranked second in Ontario entering the provincial finals in Orangeville, edged Oakville 4-3 Sunday to capture the bantam title.
Bob Fisher, a former St. Catharines Spartan, Jr. A Athletic, Major Athletic and National Lacrosse League player, was the head coach of a team that didn’t lose a tournament all season long.
“We won our first tournament in Mimico, we won in Orangeville, then won Zone 9 and this — the provincial championship,” said the 41-year-old Fisher.
St. Catharines finished 2018 with a 28-5-3 overall record and needed to knock off the No. 1ranked team in the province to advance to Sunday’s final.
“On Saturday we tied Nepean in the morning, and that led to a three-way tie with Oakville, Orangeville and us,” Fisher said. “We all had five points and Orangeville was ranked No. 1 overall all season long, so we had a one-game showdown with Orangeville with the winner going on against Oakville, and we beat Orangeville.”
Goaltender Oliver Vanyo was the story in Sunday’s gold-medal game, in particular over the final 60 seconds as he stopped a penalty shot then a cross-crease pass in the Athletics’ thrilling victory over Oakville.
“In the last minute of the game, we were up by one, and we were called for too many men (less than two minutes left in the game results in a penalty shot for op-
posing team) and he made a huge save on the penalty shot, and then with 14 seconds left we called a timeout and set up a play and they intercepted the pass came down and three passes later Vanyo slid across and made the save,” Fisher said. “It was huge.”
Keaton Zavitz, younger brother of Jr. A Athletic Carter, was named first team all-star and most valuable player of the provincial championship, but Fisher was quick to point out that the Athletics win was a total team effort.
“This team played together, it was amazing to see,” Fisher said. “Obviously Keaton was our MVP, but we also had Gavin Howard who played unbelievable and stepped up big time in the Orangeville game.
“Colin Walters had a big goal, Connor Thomson-Dick got two goals against Six Nations. It was a total team effort, somebody different always stepped up.”
Fisher gave praise to offensive coach and former National Lacrosse player Mike Accursi and also dedicated the season to Spartan Athletic Club founder Rose Engemanm who died earlier this year.
“We needed everybody in the final,” Fisher said. “From broken shafts, water bottles, to kids being cut, it just took a total team effort. Thanks to everyone for being there, it was unbelievable.”