The Ravens sent three teams to the provincial championships

Royal Bay Ravens junior boys team pose after they beat the Claremont Spartans 11-10 in the championship game at Dr. Charles Best Secondary. (Photo courtesy Michelle Mahovlich)

Royal Bay Secondary school sent three teams to Coquitlam for the lacrosse provincials.

The Ravens sent two junior boys tier 1 teams and one senior tier 2 team last week.

One of the junior boys teams brought a championship back to the Raven’s nest. The championship team went undefeated in the round robin part of the tournament and beat Terry Fox in the semi finals to face Island foe, Claremont Spartans in the finals.

The Ravens were down by four goals on two occasions in the game against the Spartans, but clawed their way back to win 11-10.

Royal Bay field lacrosse academy director and head coach Lucas MacNeil mentioned some standout performances on the championship team.

Logan Wright scored seven goals in the final game and was a great leader on the field, he said. Riley Hawes and Aidan Soloman were the keys to the Ravens’ defence and goalie, Adam Bland was phenomenal.

Jacob Obee took home MVP honours for the junior boy tier 1 side of the tournament.

The other junior boys team team had a tough go in the round robin part of the tournament, but recovered and in their final game beat Vancouver College 17-2.

The senior boys competed in the tier 2 division of the tournament and finished in second place, losing to Nanaimo in the championship game.

After going undefeated in the round robin, the senior Ravens beat Riverside in the semi finals in double overtime.

Noteworthy players from the senior team include: Grade 12 players Mason Wright, Andy Michalski, Hayden Ash, Ryan Atkinson, and Grade 11 goalie Gavin Sam.

Sam was a defenceman and decided in mid-December he wanted to try his hand at goalkeeping.

MacNeil has been coaching the senior boys since they started the development program at Royal Bay two years ago and is proud of the hard work and dedication the group has put in the past two years.

“To see their accomplishments now to get to where they are, you couldn’t have asked for more as student athletes,” he said.

MacNeil said assistant coaches Mason Pynn and Stew Smith have been instrumental to the success of the program as well.

Up next, the Ravens’ development academy will head to Oregon in May for some U.S. competition and are going to continue their schedule of attending lacrosse tournaments along the west coast of the U.S. next year. MacNeil has plans in the works to take his players to Baltimore for a tournament for the 2019-2020 season.

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lindsey.horsting@gold streamgazette.com

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