Unfortunately, the Capital Region Axemen found themselves with a familiar outcome after last night’s matchup against the QSLL leading, and undefeated, Kahnawake Mohawks. All three of the previous games versus Kahanwake ended up in two goal losses, and last night’s was no different. In front of a packed crowd at Howard Darwin Arena, as there was a plethora of minor league players in from all over Ontario for the Nepean Knights minor lacrosse tournament, the Axemen were unable to close out a win and had to settle for a 10-8 loss.
The Mohawks came out strong, and with their lineup of NLL stars; #99 Callum Crawford, #12 Andrew Suitor, #61 Pat Saunders, and goaltender #55 Angus Goodleaf, not to mention QSLL goal leader #14 Karahkwanoron Two Axe, it was expected of them. Kahnawake managed to open the scoring within the first minute of the game and never looked back. They would dominate the play for much of the first half of the period, as Capital Region couldn’t seem to find their legs early on. Both times the Axemen managed to score in the first period, off goals from #20 Curtis Singleton and #24 Ryan Dewar, the Mohawks managed to score off the ensuring draw, negating any momentum that the Axemen could muster up.
The Axemen came out with more drive in the second, and managed to pot four goals in the frame, two of which coming from leading scorer #92 Mark Vradenburg, who finished the game with 3 points (2,1). Vradenburg is currently in the hunt to lead the lead both the QSLL and TNSLL in points and goals by season’s end.
Even though the score was tied to start the third, Kahnawake came out with all of the momentum, scoring 3 goals within the first 10 minutes. Although the Axemen were able to get back within one, it was too little, too late. The Mohawks managed to control the play and rag the ball for much of the last 2 minutes, thus sealing their victory. The Axemen have one more game left on their regular season schedule, at home on July 22, 2017 against the Tyendinaga Thunderbirds. Since Capital Region will be facing the Mohawks shortly afterwards in the QSLL playoffs, they’ll need to find a way to grind out a couple of wins if they want to make the trip to President’s Cup this year.