Nanaimo District Secondary School’s field lacrosse academy made history with its first championship.
The Islanders junior team won the Tier 2 provincial championship on Friday on the mainland, defeating the Vancouver College Fighting Irish 11-4 in the final.
“It’s fantastic,” said Joel Smith, the NDSS academy’s coach and director. “It’s great for the kids to see that if they work hard and put the time in in the classroom and on the field, that their efforts can be rewarded. It’s a testament to how hard they’re working with [the NDSS field program] and also with community lacrosse.”
The junior Isles went undefeated over five games at the tournament, which was held over three days at venues in Coquitlam and New Westminster. Derian Thompson, a faceoff man and midfielder, was selected tournament MVP and Jake McGonigle, big-stick defender, was game MVP in the final.
The final against over Van College brought some extra motivation as the same two teams had met at provincials in Nanaimo District’s inaugural season in 2015-16.
“We kind of surprisingly made it to the final last year and played them and they waxed us, so this year was a little bit of payback for the boys,” Smith said.
He said the Islanders had success at provincials this year because they were committed to the system, knowing it would create chances for their offensive talent, and were strong and stout on defence.
“It was a complete team effort, you could say…” said the coach. “It was a very unselfish performance for everybody.”
The Islanders’ senior team won its pool and made it to the quarterfinals at provincials.
Smith said the championship will be a boost for the field lacrosse program, which also recently learned it will benefit from an artificial turf field planned for the Nanaimo District Secondary School grounds.
“The sky’s the limit for what we can do at ND,” Smith said.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
