Merchants Move Towards Playoff Berth With Road Win Over Ennismore

By Sam Laskaris

The Merchants Lacrosse Club managed to do more than just pick up a road victory on Friday. The Merchants also all but guaranteed themselves a playoff spot by downing the host Ennismore James Gang 13-7 in an Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) match held at the Robert E. Young Recreation Complex. With the win the Merchants saw their record improve to 6-4. Ennismore’s mark fell to 3-9. 

By picking up the W, the Merchants moved six points ahead of the James Gang, who are currently occupying fifth place in the standings of the six-team OSL. The top four finishers advance to post-season play. Ennismore has also played two games more than the Merchants at this point, making a post-season appearance rather unlikely for the James Gang.

Ennismore can only leapfrog the Merchants now is if it wins all four of its remaining contests AND the Merchants lose all six of the matches they have left. The odds of that happening, though still a possibility, are astronomical. Meanwhile, the Kitchener Waterloo Velocity, which is winless in 11 starts, has already been officially eliminated from the playoffs. Merchants’ head coach Jason Crosbie was not entirely satisfied with his charges’ efforts on Friday. “It wasn’t pretty,” he said of the win. “I wasn’t super happy with attention to details. It wasn’t there. It was just too loose for me.” Crosbie believe his players need to step up their performances if they are to enjoy a lengthy post-season. “It’s got to be better than that,” he said. “It’s not good enough for playoff lacrosse.”

The Merchants led 5-1 after the opening period and 9-3 after 40 minutes of action. Crosbie though was pleased the victory moved the Merchants to the verge of clinching a playoff position. “It was a big win for us,” he added. “We’re a very good team when we want to be.” The Merchants had nine different players find the back of the James Gang net.
Travis Getz led the way with four goals while Trent Boyd added a pair. Also scoring for the Merchants were Cory Upshaw, Jon Leclerc, Mark Debrone, Jake Gilmour, Dylan Goddard, Jeremy McWatters and Connor Van ryn.

The Merchants return to action on Sunday with a road game versus the Six Nations Rivermen. That match, which will be staged at the Gaylord Powless Arena in the Six Nations community of Ohsweken, has an opening faceoff scheduled for 4 p.m. Meanwhile, the Merchants’ next home contest will also be against the Rivermen. That game, which begins at 7 p.m., will be next Saturday (June 29) at Children’s Arena in Oshawa.