The Record

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T u e s da y , Nov e m b e r 15, 2011

Pa ge 7

Local Sports
By Jesse Feith

For me personally, it means everything to finish on top. With the guys on our team, we could not be a closer group of teammates and friends.

Bishops lacrosse brings home Baggataway Cup

hen it comes to university athletics, its no secret that schools across the country generally focus on their respective teams that bring in the most revenue during the season for their athletic department, which generally goes hand-in-hand with the most interest surrounding those specific teams. Depending on the location and school history this usually means the football program for fall sports and the basketball or hockey program for winter sports. This fall season at Bishops University, while most media attention focused on the ups and downs of the universitys football team, a story was developing with one of the schools less lucrative teams as the 2011 mens lacrosse squad quietly put together one of the most successful seasons of any sport in the universitys storied career, ending regular season play with a 9-1 record and going 13-1 overall as they won the national championship in London, Ontario. There were a lot of signs along the way that made us think this could be our year if we wanted it bad enough, and hard work paid off, stand-out player and team captain Mike Dube told the Record. The teams journey to the Baggataway Cup started with their first regular season game against Queens, but really started coming together after beating Trent in their CUFLA first-round playoff game on October 29. The game took place on Bishops Coulter Field, and the Gaiters lost no time establishing its dominance over the same Trent team they had beaten 18-2 earlier that season, jumping out to a 10-6 lead after three quarters and eventually holding off a late Trent push to take a 14-10 lead. The Gaiters prided themselves all season long on strong team play and an unselfish style that was on full display in their first playoff bout, with Mike Dube, James Malloy, Gareth Gibson and Brett Conway all scoring twice and Josh Crone, Joseph Laleune and Alex Millin all picking up a goal apiece for a total of seven Gaiters appearing on the score sheet. From there it was off to London, Ontario for the 2011 Baggataway Cup, where the 2011 Gaiters Lacrosse team would cement themselves as arguably the greatest to ever represent the school on a Lacrosse field since the programs inception in the year 2000. The weekend was awesome. We were definitely prepared well and had a good game plan going into all three games, we stuck to it and it worked out, said Dube. The University of Western Ontario Mustangs were the Gaiters first opponent on the Friday night of the weekend and were looking to spoil the Gaiters experience in front of a hefty home crowd. The Mustangs brought in multiple alumni for the game to celebrate their 10 year anniversary of the last time they hosted and won the Baggataway Cup

The 2011 Baggataway Champions Bishops Gaiters lacrosse team was honoured at the halftime of the universitys basketball home-opener this past Saturday night. The announcer called each member of the team in chronological order by their jersey numbers as they lined up in Bishops team captain Mike Dube lifts the the middle of the court to a raucous ovation from the proud crowd on hand. The players each Baggataway Cup in the air as the Gaiters celkissed the cup one by one before passing it to the next and eventually gathered at center court ebrate their first national championship for one last team huddle of the year. back in 2001, when the Bishops program was still only a year old. It would be Bishops however that would ruin the anniversary for Western, as a composed Gaiters team left the TD Waterhouse Stadium with the win that night, behind strong play from captain Dube and Gareth Gibson, who scored the Gaiters third goal of the game, assisted on the fourth, and scored their fifth on route to a 8-4 Gaiters win. Saturdays game against the Guelph Gryphons was the most back and forth of the weekend and arguably the hardest fought game for the Gaiters all season long as they edged out Guelph by one point with a 12-11 final score after completing an unforgettable comeback. Guelph jumped out to an early 4-1 score and seemingly had the Gaiters number as they grew their lead to 8-2 before the games momentum began to shift as the Gaiters rallied behind an impressive performance by Josh Crone, who scored the Gaiters first three goals and added two more later in the contest. Guelph opened the fourth quarter looking to put Bishops away for good, scoring a quick two goals and extending their lead to 10-6 and eventually 12-8 before illegal stick calls started coming into effect, nullifying one of their scores and giving Bishops a little extra confidence boost, that they took all the way to the end, finalizing the comeback of the weekend to take a 12-11 win into Sundays final. More of the same lead Bishops past Brock in the final, as all around team play and yet another strong outing by Dube, who had a hat trick, and Crone, six points in the game, helped Bishops beat Brock 11-6 and win their first ever Baggataway Cup. The final game was great, we came out flying and jumped all over them pretty quick, but let our guard down a bit to let them tie it up. Once we regrouped at half time our leadership at both ends of the field took over and the rest is history, said Dube. For Dube, the championships comes in his fifth and final year with the Bishops lacrosse team. For me personally, it means everything to finish on top. With the guys on our team, we could not be a closer group of teammates and friends. Im sure thats one of the biggest reasons we were able to win. We pride ourselves on our "One Love" slogan and being one unit and to finish this way with these guys couldnt be better, he said in an interview. For Head coach Damien Roy, who founded the program back in 2000, it was a long journey back to the top after making it to the national championships in 2002 only to lose in triple overtime. He had to miss the weekend due to being overseas, but was ecstatic and proud about the end result. I dont think it has quite sunk in yet, he said in an interview Tuesday. The crew, and the players this year

were focused right from the start and had to go through one of the toughest roads to the finals, playing the three top teams from the West but were able to pull it off, he said. The head coach mentions his fifth year crew composed of Mike Dube, Keegan Durovick, Jesse Gattellaro and Josh Crone as being the core of this years winning team. These guys arrived back in 2007 when there was only 18 players on the team and have grown and matured as lacrosse players and men every single year. They were the heart of the team this year and I have no doubt they have long successful careers and lives ahead of them, he proudly told the Record. The win is not only a first for the lacrosse team, but also the first league championship Bishops has had in any sport since 2004. The spotlight may not have been on the program earlier this year, but as the team brought the first cup of any kind back to Lennoxville in seven years, the attention and optimism surrounding the program may now be at an all-time high.

ALL PHOTOS ROBERT GALBRAITH