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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012 25 Second national championship 'bittersweet' for lacrosse player By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR As the final seconds ticked off the clock in the Minto Cup final, Brad Gillies wasn't sure what type of tears to shed. On one hand, Gillies and his Orangeville Northmen were about to win their second national junior A box lacrosse championship in four years. But, on the other, it marked the end of that four-year run that was special for more reasons than just on-floor success. "All game, I kept thinking, `This is the last time we're going to be in the huddle. This is the last time I'll be running out with these guys,'" Gillies said. "It was a bittersweet thought, that's for sure." At least the 21-year-old Oakville resident was afforded plenty of opportunity to savour those last few precious minutes. Orangeville was in full control of the contest, leading Coquitlam 9-4 after opening the best-of-three series with a Brad Gillies 19-7 rout in Game 1. The Minto Cup final was just the latest dominant effort by a Northmen squad that had finished third during Ontario Lacrosse Association regular-season play. Orangeville swept the Burlington Chiefs in the opening round, then upset the second-place Whitby Warriors 4-1 in the semis and pounded the top-seeded Six Nations Arrows 4-1 in the league final (outscoring the Arrows 30-11 in the last three games of that series). At the Minto Cup tournament, Orangeville defeated Coquitlam 9-5, the host Whitby team 8-7 (in overtime) and Calgary 15-1 to reach the championship series. Gillies said he and his teammates, who went 16-4 during the regular season, didn't surprise themselves with their postseason performance. "I think this was a real special group. We didn't have the big names we had in past years and we came in (to the season) with teams not giving us the respect we deserved," said the defensive specialist, noting the Northmen have now won three Minto Cups in the past five years and reached the final in another of those seasons. "I think, every game, we came in knowing we should win or what it would take to win." Gillies and his teammates have now disbanded, many of them to play university lacrosse in the United States. Gillies still has three years of eligibility remaining at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he See Northmen, page 27 RENE JOHNSTON / TORONTO STAR Matheson still basking in the glow By Daniel Girard TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE PLENTY TO SMILE ABOUT: Diana Matheson breaks into a smile during a recent visit to the Oakville Soccer Club. The mild-mannered 28-year-old is making the most of the celebrity status she attained by scoring the winning goal in the Olympic women's soccer bronzemedal game earlier this month. ing us that it was a big Canadian moment, but that seems too big to be true." Comparisons have been drawn between her goal and Sidney For Diana Matheson, scoring the biggest goal in the history Crosby's overtime winner in hockey's gold-medal game at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Paul Henderson's goal to of Canadian soccer was the easy part. Since netting the winner against France in the dying sec- beat Russia in the 1972 Summit Series has also been mentioned. onds of stoppage time for the bronze medal at "I think the fact it got compared to hockey the London Olympics, the veteran midfielder "It still doesn't feel right away shows how big it got here," Matheson from Oakville has been in demand. completely real. People said. "To put it up with one of those goals is a Public appearances, autograph sessions, tele- keep telling us that it little ridiculous to me. vision and radio shows and media interviews was a big Canadian "I mean, it's Sidney Crosby." have filled Matheson's days since her return. A While she may be more accustomed to the ceremony to honour the team before the Sept. moment, but that seems background than the limelight, make no mis7 Canada-Panama men's World Cup qualifying too big to be true." take: Matheson is fully embracing her new role. match at BMO Field is planned, as is a Sept. 15 Thoughtful, articulate and Ivy League-educated, parade in Oakville to recognize her and the Diana Matheson, on scoring the winning goal in the the five-foot-tall midfielder who honed her town's other Olympians. skills at the Oakville Soccer Club is ready to But Matheson admits she's unlikely to make Olympic women's soccer broaden her public persona -- from an example the 2012 Clan Matheson gathering in the United bronze-medal game to small players of what hard work and dedicaStates next month despite receiving a personal tion can net you, to a national ambassador for the beautiful invitation from the Virginia-based chief this past week. The hubbub is surreal for a woman who, though a key mem- game. As the holder of an economics degree from Princeton ber of the team, had always left the glory to others and let her University, she's well aware that the time to capitalize on the play on the field speak for her. "It still doesn't feel completely real," the 28-year-old said of accomplishment is now. her starring role in the instantly iconic strike. "People keep tellSee Matheson, page 27