Brooklin Drops Season Opener Against Host Cobourg Kodiaks
By Sam Laskaris
It was certainly not the start the Brooklin Lacrosse Club was looking for.
Brooklin was downed 13-9 by the host Cobourg Kodiaks in its Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) regular season opener on Sunday.
The difference in this match, which was staged at the Cobourg Community Centre, was that the Kodiaks outscored Brooklin 7-1 in the second period, to take an 11-5 lead into the final 20 minutes of action.
“We just weren’t doing the little things rights,” Connor Kearnan, who led the Brooklin offence by scoring three goals, said of his team’s second-period performance. Though Brooklin jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, the first period of action was rather evenly matched. The two squads were deadlocked at 4-4 following that opening frame.
After trading goals early on in the second, the Kodiaks then took command, scoring six unanswered goals to close out the period. Brooklin did its best to mount a rally in the third period, cutting the deficit to three goals (12-9) before the Kodiaks netted an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Brooklin head coach Brad MacArthur was not pleased with this club’s transitional play in the second, as the Kodiaks seemed to be a few steps ahead with their runners jumping onto the offence. “We need a lot better of a reaction to that,” MacArthur said. MacArthur is pleased his charges don’t have to wait long for an attempt to avenge Sunday’s setback.
That’s because Brooklin will host the same Kodiaks in its home opener this Wednesday. That match, which will be held at Whitby’s Iroquois Park Sports Centre, has a scheduled faceoff of 8 p.m.
“I think it’s nice,” MacArthur said of the fact Brooklin will get another crack at Cobourg in three days. “We’re not that far from Cobourg and it’s a bit of a regional rivalry with them.”
Kearnan wasn’t surprised to see the Kodiaks, who a year ago managed to win just two out of their 16 regular season starts and finished in the basement of the six-club MSL standings, come out with a solid effort in its opener.
“They’re a talented team,” Kearnan said of the Kodiaks. “They’re young and they have a lot of energy.”
Besides Kearnan’s three goals, Justin Robinson also had a pair. Curtis Knight, Austin Murphy, Jeff Wittig, Adam Perroni and Julian Garritano netted singles.