Brooklin Concludes Regular Season with Road Loss to Host Lakers

By Sam Laskaris

And now the real fun begins.

The Brooklin Lacrosse Club concluded its Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) regular season on Thursday with a 13-7 loss against the host Peterborough Lakers.

“We struggled defensively and we struggled offensively,” Brooklin head coach Jason Crosbie said of the contest held at the Memorial Centre in Peterborough. “We struggled everywhere tonight. And it just wasn’t our night.”

Brooklin, which had defeated the visiting Lakers 13-10 on Wednesday in Whitby, had an opportunity to finish in second place in the MSL standings had it managed to beat Peterborough again on Thursday.

But with the win the Lakers jumped ahead of Brooklin and finished in second with their 7-5-0 mark. Brooklin, with its 6-5-1 record, placed third, one point behind Peterborough.

The two squads will now gear up for a best-of-seven MSL semi-final series, which will begin next week. The schedule for the entire series is expected to be released on Friday.

Thanks to Thursday’s victory, the Lakers will have home-flooradvantage in the series and will host Game 1, in all likelihood on Monday.

The league’s other semi-final series will feature the Six Nations Chiefs, who finished atop the league standings with an 8-3-1 record, versus the 2-10-0 Cobourg Kodiaks, who placed fourth.

The Chiefs will host Game 1 in that best-of-seven affair this coming Wednesday.

Crosbie is confident Brooklin can rebound from Thursday’s setback and fare well in its playoff series versus the Lakers.

“I think we’ve done it all year,” Crosbie said of his club’s ability to bounce back. “We can play with anybody in this league. And we’ve proven that.”

Brooklin did manage to win two of its four regular season outings against Peterborough.

The participants in both of the league’s semi-final series had already been determined heading into Thursday’s Brooklin/Peterborough matchup. 

The only thing that was still uncertain was which club would finish second and which one would place third.

“Now that really means nothing except home-floor advantage (in the first round),” Crosbie said.

Crosbie also praised the character and resiliency of players on the Brooklin roster this season adding they will quickly regroup from their regular season finale and be prepared for the post-season.

Brady Kearnan and Mitch Wilde scored two goals each for Brooklin in Thursday’s match. Curtis Knight, Connor McClelland and James Whiteford netted Brooklin’s other goals.

Holden Cattoni, Taite Cattoni, Austin Hasen, Thomas Hoggarthand Cory Vitarelli scored two goals each for the Lakers. Kiel Matisz, Zach Thompson and Mitch Ogilvie also scored for Peterborough.