After a couple of early-season setbacks, the Kelowna Raiders never looked back.
The Raiders downed the hometown Armstrong Shamrocks 10-6 on Friday night to capture the Thompson Okanagan Senior Lacrosse League title for the fourth consecutive season.
Kelowna finished the campaign with nine straight wins, including a two-game sweep of the ‘Rocks in the best-of-three Shaw Cup final.
Kelowna had opened the championship series at home last Tuesday with a 15-11 victory.
“Our defense was awesome, we had some great goaltending and our veterans guys really stepped up,” said Raiders captain Jacob Illichmann. “Armstrong tried to get in our faces, but we handled what they threw at us, and we got the job done.”
In the series clincher, rookie Tanner Belsham supplied solid goaltending, while Joe Brown paced the offense. Jordan Innes, with a pair, and Cody Evans, Nick Evans, Patrick McMillan and Pho Heng rounded the scoring for Kelowna.
The Raiders brought a half dozen new players on board this year and according to Illichmann, the team just got better with each outing.
“The guys really gelled,” said Illichmann. “This one of the better teams we’ve had.”
The provincial senior C lacrosse championship is slated for later this summer in Prince George.
Illichmann said the Raiders haven’t yet made a decision on whether they will be attending.
