Excalibur men’s lacrosse season opens with a win
Looking to improve on a quarterfinal finish at the 2017 Baggataway Cup, the Trent Excalibur men’s lacrosse team got off to a promising start Saturday night.
Playing their first game of the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association season, the Excalibur upended the 2-0 Bishop's Gaiters 13-6 at Justin Chiu Stadium. They blew open a 6-5 game with seven consecutive goals.
After five years as an assistant coach Peterborough native and former player, Mark Farthing made his debut as head coach. He’s filling the shoes of Geoff McKinley, who stepped down at the end of last season to spend more time with his young family. Farthing’s staff is full of wellknown Peterborough lacrosse names with assistants including Pete Rennie (long pole), Josh Wasson-McQuigge (midfield), Matt Evans (attack), Matt Riel (trainer/manager) and Excalibur alumnus Garret Eddy (video).
“I called (McKinley) today and I told him ‘Being you is tough,’” said Farthing with a chuckle. “Geoff did so much work for our program and brought us so far. Filling his shoes is extremely tough. I don’t think I’ll ever get there but he isn’t away from the program. He’s helped me with the game sheet even this morning. He’s still involved and we’re grateful for him.”
Farthing has a clear vision for Trent’s program.
“We’re really trying to foster a culture of working hard and being a good team and kind of let the lacrosse skills follow in behind,” he said.
He was pleased with the start. “It’s our first game and we’d like to improve and we’ve got a long way to go,” Farthing said, “but it was nice to find our base and see where we’re starting from. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We had some good fortune today. We were pretty excited at the start and had home field advantage which is pretty big for the guys. Bishops is a skilled, talented team and I’m sure they’ll be ready for us next time.”
The Excalibur have a large crop of returning players like Cole McWilliams and Cam Garlin, who led the way with three goals each, and Nick Finley who anchors the defence.
They also have a strong group of newcomers like former CUFLA MVP Nick Chaykowsky, who chipped in two goals, Curtis Conley from Everest sports academy and Orangeville junior B captain Riley Armstrong, among others.
“We have lots of great pickups,” Farthing said.
Finley, a member of the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush, said the players have high expectations.
“I think last year we all feel we came up a bit short with what we had on paper,” said Finley. “Our expectations are sort of the sky right now. A very high ceiling for us. Everyone is expecting to push for the end of the season. We want to be the ones who lift the Cup at the end of the year.
“We got a couple of transfers. We lost a couple of guys but we have a very old core in terms of fourth and fifth year guys. I think it does point toward us, hopefully, making a push.”
Also scoring for Trent was Adam Perroni with two goals while Nick Karam, Tonatiuh Salinas and Pat McCrory also scored. Samuel Firth scored twice for Bishops with singles to Eric Mawdsley, Thomas Bakeeff, Xavier Perron and Reece Tomkow.