Former Beaches Lacrosse Club players helping their teams win Canadian university championship crowns
By CHRIS KIDD
Lacrosse has been played in the Beach for more than 100 years.
Lacrosse is different than many local sports in that teams are based in our community. Kids who live in the Beach play for the Beach, building long-term friendships and a strong sense of community/responsibility.
Hundreds of kids have grown up in the game and have moved on to post-secondary school programs and the professional leagues.
On Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 – 13 local players (having moved on to play at Canadian universities) won their respective championships.
The OUA (Ontario University Athletics) women’s lacrosse champion Queen’s Golden Gaels have five local Beaches Lacrosse Club young women on their team.
The CUFLA (Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association – Ontario and Quebec) men’s lacrosse champion Western University Mustangs have six local young men playing for them.
Also, the Dalhousie Tigers recently won the MUFLA (Maritimes Uninversity Field Lacrosse Association) men’s lacrosse championship with two local Beach players.
The Queen’s University women’s team defeated Ontario Tech 15-4 to win the OUA crown.
After a bitter loss in the 2023 championship game, Queen’s was determined to redeem themselves in 2024. They went undefeated all season and outscored their opponents in the four games over the championship weekend by a margin of 77-11.
Beachers Kiara McKelvey, Leah Quinn, Aria Ruscitti, Jordyn Van Vliet and Sophia Wilson have been playing together as a group since the age of 10. With Queen’s graduating seven seniors, the local Beachers will be core leaders on the team next season as Queen’s look to repeat their championship run in 2025. This group of former Beaches Lacrosse players makes up 20 per cent of the Queen’s team (the most of any Ontario club).
The Western men’s team won their second of back-to-back championships 11-3 over Queen’s.
Michael Orlando and Kyle Irvine played with Western in the past and were part of the coaching staff this year. Aidan McLaughlin, Ethan Gomes, Daniel Park and Jacob Hickey all played a significant role in Western’s success. Jacob led all scorers with 14 goals in the three games during championship weekend and was named MVP of the 2024 CUFLA Championship weekend (Baggataway Cup).
The Dalhousie Tigers – after being unbeaten during the regular season – repeated as champions with an 8-6 win over Saint Francis Xavier. Quinn Perren and Aiden Pitblado were second and fourth in league goal scoring over the entire season. During the championship weekend they continued finding the net combining for 40 per cent of the goals in the Tigers semifinal (12-7) and championship (8-6) wins.
Along with the 13 champions, Beaches Lacrosse also has many players on other Canadian university teams. These include 11 players and coaches on the University of Toronto women’s team who finished third, and four players on the Queen’s University men’s team who finished second.
Canadian university lacrosse is over for the season, and many of our local players will be spending the winter training and playing in other leagues in both the United States and Canada.
- Chris Kidd is with the Beaches Lacrosse Club. For more information on the club, please go to https://beacheslacrosse.com/
