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A Look Back at the EDGE 2013 (1995) Team

By AT, 03/19/14, 11:30AM EDT

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Read the entire story about our 1995 team, a group of parents and players from cities and towns across Ontario that grew together to become more than just a team, but a lacrosse family and lifelong friends. 


Team Dinner

Since 2006, Edge Lacrosse has been fortunate to have some of Ontario’s most talented young men represent our program. Many of these young men have gone on to fulfil their dreams and goals of playing lacrosse at the collegiate level, some have even gone on to play professionally in the NLL/MLL and Nationally for Canada.

Today, we take a look back at a group of players, who in 2008 came together as young boys with a passion and excitement to learn the game, play at the highest level and achieve their goals of playing collegiate lacrosse. In total, 25 players from the 1995 team (Edge 2013) received scholarships to the NCAA for 2013/2014, a goal each of them worked hard in the classroom and on the field to achieve. Edge Lacrosse is proud of these boys and we will enjoy following and supporting their careers in the NCAA over the next few years. While many of these former teammates will line up as opponents in the NCAA, their journey to get there will forever make them brothers.


Hopkins Visit

Thanks to Greg Thompson and Matt Attwood for their help compiling info, quotes and updates on the team. Thanks to Anne M for the photos! Thanks to the team coaches, Matt Attwood, John Flynn, Dave Johnston, Dave Summerville, Rob McKibbon, and Greg Thompson. Special thanks to team managers, Max Prince, Liz Campbell, Bev Lacastro and Martin Tulett!

We caught up with Coach Matt Attwood to reflect on his time and experience coaching this group.

 When I first got involved with Edge I had no idea what to expect. I knew that the level of lacrosse was going to be high and that whatever team I ended up coaching was going to be pretty good. I felt pretty privileged to get the call to be head coach of the Edge Elite 2013 team, especially since I only went to be an assistant coach. 

 I was given a little heads up that this was a special group of players and that a real team bond had been establish both on and off the field already, with not only players but with parents too. I am not going to lie, I was pretty nervous taking over this team. It was a completely new team to me and I didn't know a soul. I had no idea what was lying ahead.

 At the first tryout I could tell that there was something special with this group, you could tell that all these boys had a common goal and that was to get better to reach the highest level. They didn't just try to get by with the high level of skill, this group was determined to work harder than the next guy to get ahead. It was a great sight to see.

Hard work combined with the high skill level paid dividends for us throughout each season. We rarely played our own age group, always playing one to two age groups higher and competing with the top caliber teams. These guys wouldn't get down on themselves ever, they would just find a way to be resilient and get the job done.

I have a lot of great memories with this team and it would be hard to pick just one, so I’ll give two, one on the field and one off the field.

On the field it would be when we went to the RPI tournament in Albany, NY. We were playing in an age group that was senior age, while we were rising sophomores. We were heading to the semi-finals playing against a heavily skilled RPI freshmen recruit team(heading to RPI that fall), they were  bigger, stronger and older then us, but two things they were not, were driven or faster, we used our drive and our speed to get past them, winning in overtime to reach the final. It was a great feeling and it gave our guys all the confidence in the world.

Off the field, a good memory of mine could be anything, hotel lobbies, bus rides, or team dinners. One that really sticks out to me is when we were on our way to NSCLA tourney in New Jersey. We were having bus trouble and we had to pull over to wait for a new bus, so when the new bus arrived, the dads and the coaches got off the bus and transferred all the luggage and equipment from one bus to the other in a torrential down pour of rain. As soon as we were done and it was time for the players and moms to get on the new bus, the rain stopped and the sun was shining, it was pretty unbelievable!

Overall coaching this team is and forever will be one of the fondest memories of my coaching career and I just want to thank Edge for giving me an opportunity to coach them.


Team Bus Trips!

Greg Thompson has seen a lot of lacrosse. With 3 boys, Jake (Cornell), Zack (RIT) and Riley (Princeton), all who’ve played in the Edge program, Greg has spent countless hours at the fields, in the car driving the boys to practices and tournaments or behind the scenes helping out. Greg has also been a dedicated and passionate supporter of the Edge program over the years, the amount of time and effort he has invested to help the program is second to none. I had a chance to speak with Greg about some of his best memories with this group over the years.

 For this group the bus trips were always memorable, not always the best experiences - but always something we talked about in later years. We remember the bus trips more than the actual games. - Also the fun times in the lobbies, let’s just leave it at that J

 From the first time this team got together in 2008 I think people could see they were going to be something good, The tone for years to come was set on the very first bus trip we took in June down to the Cockeysville tournament in Maryland. Bus driver not the best, toilets couldn't be pumped out - typical for us - But the boys did great - winning all their games. It also was the first time most kids/parents had been to a NCAA university as we visited Johns Hopkins and the kids got to run around Homewood field. Most memorable though was that on the way down the kids were fairly quiet and shy. Over the short weekend - they had completely bonded - the last 2 hours of the bus trip home the kids did a slow clap - chanting each player’s name.

That summer was also the first time they stayed in College dorms, staying at Hofstra University with the older Edge teams. The memorable things were again off the field - the 100 degree bus with no AC and the long walk to our first game after being "misled" by the campus map. That first year the team record was 22-4-1, playing against their own age they were 18-0.

The second year (2009) a couple highlights were the Rutgers Tournament where the players stayed by themselves in the dorms  and the Long Island trip (Hofstra dorms again) The team got to play at half time of a Lizards MLL game and got to go in the dressing room after the game.

I think these kids (& parents) learned so much about the NCAA route through their Edge years - They stayed in dorms (played/toured) at Hofstra, Rutgers, Gettysburg. Played & toured at Cortland, Ohio State, Stoney Brook, RPI.Toured Cornell, U Penn, Drexel, JHU, Syracuse, Binghamton.

With Greg’s help, we’ve compiled a brief rundown of the 1995 team, where they are committed, and how they are doing. We start with the 1995 born players who are currently in the NCAA/CUFLA

Alec

Tulett

2013

BROWN

Toronto

Ben

Drake

2013

ALBANY

Clarington

Dallas

Bridle

2013

DENVER

Orangeville

Colin

Mawdsley

2013

ROBERT MORRIS

Innisfil

Ryan

Johnston

2013

BOSTON U

Elora

Jordyn

Lacastro

2013

QUEENS U (N.CAROLINA)

Sudbury

Pat

Masterson

2013

DETROIT

London

Connor

Laird

2013

LINDENWOOD

Whitby

Markell

Nelson

2013

DREXEL

Whitby

Kyle

Pedwell

2013

DETROIT

St.Catherines

Taylor

Campbell

2013

BROCK U

Clarington

Jackson

Rakoczy

2013

QUEENS

Burlington

 

 

 

 

 

Nolan

Apers

2014

LEHIGH

Oakville

Riley

Thompson

2014

PRINCETON

Orangeville

Todd

Fedyck

2014

DENVER

Fergus

Joel

Tinney

2014

JHU

Cambridge

Matthew

Gilray

2014

BUCKNELL

Clarington

Nathan

McKenzie

2014

LEHIGH

Guelph

Ryan

Coulter

2014

BOWLING GREEN (Hockey)

Hamilton

Jake

Cook

2014

PROVIDENCE

Guelph

Rory

Flynn

2014

OHIO WESLEYAN

Erin

Trevor

Smyth

2014

ADRIAN COLLEGE

Orangeville

Adam

Bellamy

2014

QUINNIPIAC

St.Catherines

Austin

Kosak

2014

FERRIS STATE (Hockey)

Oakville

Eric

Gold

2014

CANISIUS COLLEGE

Keswick

Austin

Divitcos

2014

RUTGERS

Richmond Hill

Ryan Johnston is the lone Canadian playing in the inaugural season at Boston University. Ryan will forever hold the honour of scoring the very first goal in school history and has been named as one of the 3 captains for Boston and starting attackman. – awesome start Ryan!

2014 Season stats – 7 games, 9 goals, 1 assist, 26 shots, 2 gb

Alec Tulett is also having a great start at Brown University where he saw lots of field time at Close D in the fall and even netted a goal. He’s loving everything about Brown. Brown had a special fall, playing Team England and Sankofa Alliance (a special all-black team) here’s a link to the story

2014 Season stats – 5 games, 1 shot, 2 gb

Colin Mawdsley has joined the “Canadian” team at Robert Morris University near Pittsburgh, playing alongside a few other Edge alumni.

2014 Season stats – 2 games, 2 shots, 1 gb

Taylor Campbell is studying Sports Management at Brock University in St. Catherine’s and recently helped out at the Great Lakes Games.

Ben Drake is down at Albany – I’m sure being amazed by the skill of the Thompson clan who lead the Great Danes Offense. As Bennett says” believe the hype and expect big things from them”

2014 Season stats – 2 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 shots 

Pat Masterson - For travel purposes, I’m sure that Joe loves that Pat has joined his brother over at Detroit. It will be a special year for the Masterson family.

Connor Laird is in Missouri at Lindenwood University, enjoying school and looking forward to the lacrosse season and earned a spot as a starting defenceman.

2014 Season Stats – 3 games, 4 gb, 5 ct 

Dallas Bridle is way out in Denver and had a strong fall. Dallas is ranked at #74 by Inside Lacrosse for University freshmen. (#21 attack) 

Jordyn Lacastro is having a great time down at Queens University in Charlotte,  North  Carolina and is looking forward to a winter with nice weather (just like Sudbury I’m sure).  It sounds like he’s adjusting to the “southern mentality” and university life.

2014 Season Stats – 7 games, 2 assists, 6 shots, 4 gb 

Jackson Rakoczy playing for Queens University at the Baggataway Cup. He did an awesome job on the draws and was the main reason that Queens was able to upset Western.

Markell Nelson is enjoying a solid freshman season at Drexel. Playing in all 7 games so far for the Dragons including a game day start in the first game of the season at home vs UVA. Markell picked up his first career goal last week in a win over Mount St. Mary's!

2014 Season Stats - 7 games, 1 goal, 2 shots, 12 gb, 2 ct

Kyle Pedwell attended Everest Academy and is at Detroit Mercy as a freshman this season. Rookie of the year in Ontario Jr B with Welland in 2013. Helped the Niagara Raiders U19 win gold in 2011 and silver in 2012, also won CLAX Championships with Brampton in 2011 and 2012

High school boys: 

Nate McKenzie and Matt Gilray are senior leaders and expected to lead Brewster Academy to another great season next spring. They are loving their experience at Brewster. They will be heading to Lehigh and Bucknell respectively next year. Nathan has been ranked #3 in New Hampshire by “Student Sports”. Gilly broke his collarbone in hockey last year and missed most of the lax season, so this fall/winter the boys will just be prepping for lax. Gilly played Team Ontario U-19 and was named to the All-Star team. He also attended the Paul Rabil & Mark Millon Project 9.9 Camp in October and had a great experience, being ranked by the coaches there as the top long pole in attendance.  

Rory Flynn has recently committed to Ohio Wesleyan University and is working out and training and hopefully all done with injuries. 

Nolan Apers, Jake Cook and Adam Bellamy are back at Hill Academy for a PG year. Nolan will be joining Nate at Lehigh and Cookie will be running LSM for Providence next year and Adam will be heading to Quinnipiac to join Edge alum Dylan Webster. 

Todd Fedyk is enjoying life down in Virginia at Woodberry Forest and will be an important part of their success next spring as he preps to head to Denver in September. Todd is ranked as the #18 player in the SouthEast and # 8 in Virginia by “Student Sports”. Todd just finished football season and had a good year on the gridiron. He’s heading down to Tampa, Florida next March to start off their lax season right.

Riley Thompson, Joel Tinney and Ryan Coulter will be finishing off their high school career at Culver Academies in Indiana. Ryan is one of the top hockey players on the prep team and will join the lax boys in March after his season. Ryan is heading to Bowling Green University for hockey next year. Riley and Joel are leading the team through their fall/ winter training and recently won a fall tournament in Chicago. Next fall - Riley’s heading to Princeton, Joel to Johns Hopkins. Joel is ranked at #3 by Inside Lacrosse in their recent senior rankings, Riley is ranked at #37. “Student Sports” has Joel as the #1 midwest player and Riley as the #3 midwest player. Culver is ranked #2 in the IL preseason rankings.

Elliot McKibbon is finishing up high school in Hamilton and is leaning towards going to Laurier for Business. He’s been fighting injuries the last couple of years but seems to be getting healed up, and recently helped his school volleyball team win their championship and hopes to reunite with former Edge coach Clancy Almas on the Laurier men’s lacrosse team. 

Adriano Morgani is another one of the boys who has been fighting the injury bug the last while. Last winter he broke his ankle and missed both field and box. He did an extra year of high school and is planning to attend University next year.

Eric Gold is finishing off his high school at Kiski Prep near Pittsburgh, and recently committed to Canisius College!

Trevor Smyth was hit with the injury bug, but is back on the field again and hungry to get playing games again with Adrian college in 2014.

Greg Campbell, Mike Panowyk and Austin Kosack are doing great in hockey, Mike and Greg competed together at the World Jr A Championships in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on Team Canada East. Greg is playing for the Oakville Blades Jr A’s again this year and is strongly considering the NCAA hockey route. Austin is committed to Ferris State in Michigan.

Lastly on here – but first in our minds is Ben Neeb. One of the most promising goalies I had seen through the years and even more, one of the nicest boys I know. Benny has been battling the effects of concussions and is still in the process of recovering. He’s hoping to return to Hill Academy and still has his dream of continuing on his lacrosse career. We wish him all the best and I know Ben will be successful in life no matter what the future holds for him.