42 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday June 15, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Raiders earn bronze at OFSAA lacrosse `Rebuilding' One goal may have changed the colour, but the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders still came home with a medal. Aquinas defeated Bowmanville's St. Stephen's 10-7 to secure the bronze medal at the first-ever Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) A/AA field lacrosse championships in Peterborough. The Raiders were knocked out of the running for gold after being edged 8-7 by Peterborough's Holy Cross. Holy Cross went on to win the silver while Hagersville claimed the gold. "It was a back and forth game and they scored late to win it," said Aquinas coach Gary Knap. "With the top three teams, anybody could win on any given day." Aquinas bounced back to defeat St. Catharines' Ridley College 11-6, putting the Raiders in the bronze-medal game. Although the Raiders have had a field lacrosse team for three years, this was the first time they had a league to play in. Notre Dame and Robert Bateman from Burlington, Oakville's Holy Trinity, Georgetown's Christ the King and Milton's Bishop Reding formed the first Halton league. "Having a league is a huge step. Hopefully we'll have some more schools next year," Knap said. "I think the fact there's an OFSAA now will get a lot of people excited about it. There's something to look forward to at the end of the season." Though league play was limited to two mini-tournaments, the Raiders stayed sharp by playing in four tournaments, often matching up against the province's best teams. Aquinas wins AA boys' soccer crown By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF HIGH SCHOOL LACROSSE: Aquinas' Josh Ruys (14) and Alex Crepinsek (21) survey the field during a recent contest against provincial A/AA champion Hagersville. With several players with junior lacrosse experience, the Raiders had a solid foundation for their team. Mark White and Alex Crepinsek play junior A in Burlington, Josh Ruys and Spencer Taugher suit up for the junior B Oakville Buzz, and Ontario Hockey League star John Tavares, who returned to Aquinas after the hockey season ended, has played junior A with Mississauga. "The core of the kids grew up playing lacrosse and then we fill the roster with athletes who haven't played or have had limited exposure, but because they're athletic, they can pick things up from the others," said Knap. The Raiders will look to improve on their bronze medal status next season when 16 of their 18 players are eligible to return. Other members of the Raiders' bronze medal team are David Burns, Eric Crepinsek, Charles Drouin, Brad Gillies, Jake Jagodkin, Kristian Johansen, Chris Knap, Calvin Reynolds, Zack Ruys, Marc Sands, Jordan VanVeen, Sam White, Jason Woolvet and coach Sean Gillies. -- Herb Garbutt Notice: safety recall Square Stone Fire Table Xiamen HWA is voluntarily recalling the Square Stone Fire Table (Canadian Tire product number 85-1122) due to a safety concern. It has been determined that the product may be at risk of melting or catching fire when in use, which could result in damage to property and potential harm to those close to it. Xiamen HWA is aware of one incident in which the Fire Table caught fire. Customers are therefore asked to discontinue the use of this product immediately and to return it to their local Canadian Tire store for a refund. 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Though the Raiders went to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championship tournament last season, they were denied a return trip. With the final regular season standings determining the OFSAA representative, Aquinas was left out, losing on a tie-breaker to the E.C. Drury Spartans, who scored two of the three goals Aquinas allowed in a 2-1 regular-season win over the Raiders. "We had high hopes because last year the team went to OFSAA," said Fraser, "but we only had one starter return so it was a whole brand new team. In a way, it was a rebuilding year." With OFSAA out of the picture, it left the 4-1-1 Raiders with just one goal to play for - the Halton crown. After downing Milton 1-0 in the quarters, Aquinas knocked out second-place L.B. Pearson with a 1-0 semifinal victory while fifthplace Burlington Central upset the OFSAA-bound Spartans by the same 1-0 tally. Aquinas finished the job with a 5-0 rout of Central in last week's final. Even that win came with some adversity as starting midfielder Gabe Di Rollo was lost to injury 10 minutes into the game. "The team dealt with a lot of challenges," Fraser said. "We never really had a full team all year because of injuries but they showed a lot of persistence. Guys came off the bench and played well." Knowing there would be a lot of turnover and that the spring season was just six weeks from the opening game to the final, Fraser held some preliminary training sessions through the winter that allowed the team to come together. Without an overpowering attack -- four of Aquinas' seven wins were 1-0 victories -- Fraser stressed strong defence. "We recognized there were no stars up front and we were going to have to be a hard-working, blue-collar team whose strength was defending the backfield," he said. "They started to develop their confidence and we were finally able to execute our game plan in the final." True to Fraser's characterization of the team, it was scoring by committee with four players netting goals in the final. Jay Shakkour had a pair of goals and Mitch Saluk, David Ahn and Steven Guzzo each added one. With the majority of the team returning next season, Fraser said the Raiders should be able to take another run at OFSAA.