Ridge Meadow Burrards squads open minor lacrosse season with wins

Junior girls' team still looking for starting goalie

The Ridge Meadows Burrards midget B1 lacrosse team started their season in style last week, opening with a pair of wins

The Burrards beat the Delta Islanders 11-3 on April 16, before topping Mission 8-4 on Monday.

Mitchell Veerer led the Burrards in scoring with four goals, and earned the team’s MVP award against Delta last week.

“[He] played hard and got rewarded with four goals… [and] also made some nice passes trying to set up some other players,” said coach Tyler Ross.

James Pollard had a pair of goals, while Jesse deZeeuw, Dean Charbonneau, Ashton Bontron, Stuart Sabyan, and Matt Morris each scored goals.

Morris was given the team’s workhorse award for scoring in his first-ever lacrosse game, as well as his strong defensive play.

Dylan Hudon, Mitchell Furness, Austin Ross, Charbonneau, deZeeuw, and Morris each registered assists.

Sabyan had four goals in the Burrards 8-4 win over Mission on Monday, and was named that game’s MVP. Kurt Wilcox, Michael Howard, Charbonneau, and deZeeuw scored the other Burrards goals. Nathan Phillips, Bontron, and Furness picked up assists. Bontron received the team’s workhorse award.

The Burrards’ bantam B team was victorious on Sunday, beating Abbotsford 7-4, while the peewee A1 team beat Surrey 8-3.

The novice girls beat Coquitlam 4-3 on Saturday, while the novice A1 boys beat North Shore 11-3.

In mini-tyke action, Callum Olson, Brendan Austin, Brett Wocknitz, and Kash Barclay each received team MVP honours.

The junior girls’ squad won their home opener on Saturday with a 4-1 win over Burnaby, despite the team not having an experienced goalie on the roster.

Alysha Cloete strapped on the pads for the Burrards, despite only having played in goal once before in an emergency situation, and put in a spectacular performance, allowing just a single ball to get by her.

“Burnaby has been one of our rivals over the years so this is nothing short of amazing,” said Debbie Brown, co-manager of the junior girls’ Burrards. “This is quite a scary undertaking for players that are not goalies as it takes nerves of steel to stand between those pipes and be pelted by that hard little ball coming at you at up to speeds of [140 km/h].”

Brown said the team is still looking for goalies for this season.

“We are looking for an experienced goalie or at least someone athletic or someone who has played goal in other sports who would be willing to learn and be dedicated to that position,” said Brown.

For more information, visit www.rmburrards.com

Maple Ridge News