Raiders gain revenge in NCAA final

The Holy Cross Raiders turned the tables on the Saint Francis Phoenix Wednesday at Notre Dame in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association boys field lacrosse AA final.

After losing to the Phoenix 10-6 in the regular season, the Raiders defended their title with a hard-fought 5-4 victory over the Phoenix, who went 4-1 to place second in the NCAA league play.

“We had a very bad first half and played well in the second half of that game so our big talk was coming out stronger and they did that,” Holy Cross coach Corey Quinn said. “Our defence was phenomenal. They played physical and we had a goalie (Quinton Davis) playing his first game who was awesome.”

Raiders midfielder/attack Joey Young, who scored a goal in the game, felt the biggest difference Wednesday was that his team kept its composure.

“We just kept going and there was a lot of teamwork out there and ball movement. We were patient and not really forcing anything and we didn’t really get a lot of penalties which helped us,” the 18-year-old Grade 12 student said.

Young played an important role for the Raiders Wednesday and has done that all season.

“He is one of our few Grade 12s and he is also one of our few guys who has lacrosse experience,” Quinn said. “He is one of our better offensive players and he also was taking draws today. He scored, he won some draws and the biggest thing for him today was he kept his composure which is sometimes an issue with our guys. He was a leader today which is what we have been looking for all year.”

Th 6-foot-2, 173 pounder knew he had to step it up for his team this year and he started early in the season.

“I got a bunch of the guys together and we all hit the field so I could get them motivated for the season. We went to Sir Winston to practise a bit and get their confidence up,” the Welland Generals junior B player said. “In games, I make sure they are loud on the bench because it gets us hyped up. Even if some of them don’t get playing time, they love being here and we help them as much a possible and get them ready.”

Being ready was necessary Wednesday versus Saints Francis.

“It was a controlled game on both sides, low scoring, good defence and both goaltenders played great. We were lucky our guys stuck to the game plan and had a two-goal lead going into half. It was great,” Quinn said.

That being said, the Raiders were hanging on at the end.

“We have a young team and we maybe went for a goal that we shouldn’t have but that is a learning experience. When you score, it is great but when you turn it over things like that happen,” Quinn said.

The win continued Holy Cross’ long run as NCAA champions.

“It is fun keeping that tradition because we weren’t sure what was going to happen this year,” Quinn said,

It was anything but easy.

“It was a struggle to get here but we ended up finishing the job and we will be back next year too,” Young said.

Evan Bouvier, Maxwell Wojtowicz, Dylan Price and Cohen Alexander also scored for Holy Cross while Carter Mooradian, Mitch Pearson and Trent Dobson replied for Saint Francis.

“We came out a little flat in the first quarter but that is to be expected in a championship game. Sometimes you can be a little nervous. I definitely think Holy Cross gave us a good battle and there’s a couple little errors that if we tidy those up I think the score would be much different,” Saint Francis coach Simon Bellamy said.

The Phoenix trailed 5-2 in the second half but were pressing to tie the game right up until the final buzzer.

“The momentum had shifted for sure and it came down to possession of the ball and making the right decision. We need to capitalize on the chances that we have when we are on a run like that because the momentum is there. We need to put the ball in the back of the net because our goalie and our defence was playing solid and we were getting the stops,” Bellamy said.

The two teams will meet again in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association semifinals next Thursday at Governor Simcoe at 9:45 a.m.

“That will be a good battle. I imagine they are going to bring it and hopefully we will bring our A game. As coaches, we will prepare a little differently for the matchup that we see and give our boys the best chance of success,” he said.