Banners for minor laxers
Courtesy Kahnawake Mohawks Minor Lacrosse Association
Four Kahnawake Mohawks Minor Lacrosse Association (KMMLA) teams took home banners for winning their Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA)’s Zone 5 Championships.
That would be the U9-1 mixed team, the U13 girls, the U15 girls, and the U17-2.
In just the second year since the return of dedicated teams for girls in Kahnawake, having them be successful and win championships has been great to see, said Derek Stacey, coach of the U15 girls team.
“Hopefully it’ll encourage a lot more younger girls to start at a younger age. As they grow older, our program will just get stronger and stronger,” said Stacey.
“It’s great to see that the girls are getting into it and they can play, too. Considering our small population and all the championships we win, it’s pretty incredible.”
The U15 girls defeated the Akwesasne Storm 9-0 to make the finals. There, they beat the Cornwall Celtics 6-5 in a back-and-forth game.
“In the end, we just had better shooters, a better defense, and a better goalie. It was a whole team effort to win,” said Stacey.
“We play hard defense, and we’re hard to play against that way. The girls like to hit, and we have girls that can score, too. Our goalie came up big too.”
Stacey is hoping the U15 squad can repeat that success at the Ontario Lacrosse Festival at the end of July in Whitby, Ontario, the site of provincials.
The U13 girls also had a close game against Cornwall to win the banner. They were down on the scoreboard for most of the game, with Cornwall taking the lead back soon after Kahnawake would tie it. Late in the third, the Mohawks scored the tying goal, and with just seconds left scored the game-winning goal to take the game 4-3.
“It was nice to see them not give up during the game,” said Brianne Alfred, who manages the team.
“They just pushed right until the end. It’s something positive, and we’re looking forward to provincials in two weeks.”
Briella Kirby, Alfred’s daughter who plays on the team, was happy to see the team come out on top.
“That felt amazing, it was a really close game,” said Kirby.
It was a special occasion for their family, too, with the championship win coming on the birthday of the team’s coach, Mark Kirby - also Alfred’s husband and Briella’s father.
The U9-1 team defeated Akwesasne 10-1 to make the finals, where they defeated the Tyendinaga Thunderbirds 11-6 to claim their banner.
The U17 Mohawks shut out the Quinte Bayhawks 13-0 to claim their banner.
Other results
Other KMMLA teams participated in the Zone 5 championships but did not win their respective banners.
The U11-1 team lost 8-4 to the Nepean Knights and 9-6 to the Bayhawks.
The U11-2 team lost 6-4 to the Kingston Krossfire and won 6-5 against the Knights but did not advance to the banner round.
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The U11-3 team lost 7-3 to the Thunderbirds.
The U22 team won 5-4 against Cornwall, before losing 9-3 to Nepean and 6-3 to Cornwall.
All KMMLA teams will take part in the Ontario Lacrosse Festival later this month, with the U17-1 team playing the second portion of their A qualifiers while the other teams participate in provincials.
