NCAA Lacrosse Championship weekend is finally here.
Across all of NCAA lacrosse, only the elite remain. Four teams are still standing in Division I men’s and women’s lacrosse, while four stand in each of DII and DII womens, and two stand in each of DII and DIII mens.
As we have documented all season, the contributions from Canadians at all levels have been astounding. If you are new here, you can find all of those articles here.
This past weekend was no exception.
History was made on Sunday when Canadian Head Coaches Matt Brown and Gary Gait faced off in the quarterfinal. It may be the first time two Canadian Head Coaches have squared off in the NCAA tournament, and I feel confident saying it was the first time in the quarterfinals. On that note, I am not aware of a Canadian Head Coach to ever win a National Championship, so Canadian fans can root for the Pioneers.
As for the players, Dyson Williams (Whitby, Ontario) led all Canuck scorers this week with 6 goals in a losing effort for Duke.
Including this beauty.
Syracuse were led by Sam English (Burlington, Ontario) who had 2 goals and 2 assists, and got goals from Owen Hiltz (Peterborough, Ontario), Finn Thomson (Mimico, Ontario) and Jake Stevens (Puslinch, Ontario). Hiltz added an assist as well.
Denver got two goals from Cody Malawsky (Maple Ridge, British Columbia), and received outstanding play from SSDM Casey Wilson (Victoria, British Columbia).
Malawsky channeled his inner Mark Matthews on this one.
Moving to the Johns Hopkins game, Jonathan Peshko (Mimico) and Matt Collison (Scarborough, Ontario) both found the score sheet for the Blue Jays, while Payton Cormier (Mimico) and Jack Boyden (Toronto, Ontario) each scored for the Cavaliers. Boyden had a hat-trick for the Cavs.
As the focus of the lacrosse world turns to Championship weekend, I wanted to look at every Canadian playing this weekend across all divisions.
In total, 39 Canadian players are set to compete this weekend. Let’s get right into it.
DI Men
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The Irish do not have any Canadians on the roster this season.
Maryland Terrapins
The Terps have two Canucks this season. Cayden Onagi (Headingley, Manitoba) is the lone Manitoban in the top division, and Hamish MacPherson (Toronto, Ontario) is a Freshmen for the Terps. Onagi has appeared twice this season for Maryland.
Virginia Cavaliers
The aforementioned Cormier and Boyden are the only two Canadians this season for Coach Tiffany. The all-time leader in NCAA goals scored, Cormier has 64 goals and 12 assists this season. Meanwhile, the Tufts transfer Boyden has 20 goals and 17 assists on the year.
Denver Pioneers
Victoria native Noah Manning plays attack for the Pioneers, and has 31 points on the year with 22 goals and 9 assists. Attackmen Tye Scott (Mississauga, Ontario) has yet to compete this season but is another Canadian option.
Colm Barnett hails from Orangeville, Ontario, and he joins the aforementioned Cody Malawsky, Daniel Clark (Peterborough), and SSDM Wilson (Victoria) on the Pioneers roster.
Wilson was named an All-American by USA Lacrosse Magazine, and Malawsky now has 31 points on the season. He started his first contest in April however, and has been on a tear since then.
Patrick Stevens wrote a good story for the USA Lacrosse Magazine on Wilson. Find that here.
DI Women
Northwestern Wildcats
The top-ranked Wildcats have one Canadian listed on their roster: Surrey, British Columbia native Claire Snyder.
Boston College Eagles
The Eagles do not have any Canadians on the roster.
Syracuse Orange
Maddy Baxter (Whitby) is working on a very nice season for the Orange, with 29 goals and 6 assists thus far, to go along with 12 ground balls, 12 caused turnovers, and 14 draw controls. She is joined by fellow northerner Bianca Chevarie (Brantford, Ontario), who has started every game this season for the Orange. She’s got 27 caused turnovers and 39 ground balls for SU.
Chevarie was recently named to the all-region team as well.
Florida Gators
The Gators also do not currently have any Canadians.
DII Men
Adelphi Panthers
The Panthers do not currently have any Canadians.
Lenoir-Rhyne Bears
Graduate student Liam Farrell is the lone Canadian for the Bears. The Calgary, Alberta native has 9 caused turnovers and 9 ground balls this year to go along with an assist. He has started nine of the Bears 13 games this season.
DII Women
East Stroudsburg Warriors
The Warriors do not currently have any Canadians.
Adelphi Panthers
The Panthers also do not currently have any Canadians.
Tampa Spartans
Jesse Kask is one of two Canucks left in the field. The Peachland, British Columbia native has yet to appear this year.
Regis Rangers
Maple Ridge native Lily Ferguson is looking to add to her already incredible resume. With 39 goals and 15 assists this year, she has been one of the most productive midfielders in the nation. She was a second-team all-conference winner this year, and two of the first team spots went to her line mates. Together, they have been a force this season.
DIII Men
RIT Tigers
The Tigers have continued their deep and amazingly successful Canadian tradition this season. The Canadian Legion on RIT consists of the following.
- #3 Tyson Allison (Hamilton, Ontario)
- #5 Caleb Commandant (Rockwood, Ontario)
- #6 Luke Pilcher (Oakville, Ontario)
- #8 Halen Rasmussen (New Westminster, British Columbia)
- #9 Eric Achton (Uxbridge, Ontario)
- #10 David Charney (Coquitlam, British Columbia)
- #19 Josh Hamill (Own Sound, Ontario)
- #20 Michael Grace (Hamilton)
- #25 Jamie Hunt (Orangeville)
- #26 Tyler Kuchar (Newmarket, Ontario)
- #31 Alex Zborowski (Toronto)
- #34 Max Skene (Ottawa, Ontario)
- #35 Ethan Harkins (Oakville)
- #37 Cole Teeple (Orangeville)
- #43 Logan Fletcher (Oakville)
- #45 Trent Jackson (St. Catharine’s, Ontario)
- #47 Clifford Gaston (Welland, Ontario)
- #48 Axel Sanderson (New Westminster)
- #49 Matthew DeAmicis (Bolton, Ontario)
- #51 Cooper Gettel (Langley, British Columbia)
- #52 Tanner Winklemann (Heritage Pointe, Alberta)
- #54 Jack Budway (Oshawa, Ontario)
- #58 Sam Wallace (Mission, British Columbia)
Got all that? Let’s go through some of the headliners. Gaston has 109 points to lead the team in scoring. Pilcher is in third with 93. The two of them have scored an incredible 136 goals combined. As the kids say, that’s legitness.
Grace, Winkleman, and Hunt are starters on the defence. This will be Grace’s last game in Division III as he will join the Syracuse Orange next year. He was named the Defensive Player of the year for the Liberty League and is widely considered the best defensive player in Division III.
When you add in Sanderson, the top four players in caused turnovers on the Tigers all came from north of the 49th parallel.
Zborowski is the starting goaltender. He enters this game with an extremely impressive 9.33 GAA and 57% save percentage.
Safe to say, the Canadian tradition at RIT is well-intact, and the Tigers will look to use it as they hunt for their third national championship in four years.
Tufts Jumbos
The Jumbos do not currently have any Canadians.
DIII Women
None of the four teams remaining in the DIII Womens Tournament have any Canadian players.
It should be a great weekend of lacrosse! Stay tuned to LCD all week long for coverage of all the upcoming games!