Akwesasne Phantoms lose 10-7 against Cornwall Celtics

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AKWESASNE — The first regular season matchup of the new Junior C lacrosse rivalry did not disappoint.

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The Cornwall Celtics brushed aside a determined Akwesasne Phantoms team 10-7 on Saturday night at the A’nowara’ko:wa Arena.

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After a slow start offensively for both teams, the Celtics jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first frame.

From there, the Phantoms didn’t let up, with both teams trading goals in the second and third periods.

“(The Phantoms) are a pretty good team,” Celtics head coach Michael Fawthrop said of their winless opponents (0-3).

One point of his praise was directed at Akwesasne’s opportunistic style.

“They caught us a couple of times in transition, to get their guys on the break,” Fawthrop said. “And they’ve got some really good shooters out there that we’ve got to work together a little bit better.”

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Midway through the second period, with the score tied at 7-3, the next goal could go a long way in deciding the outcome.

It was Phantoms’ Jett Jock who ripped a shot from the edge of the rink to give his team a solid chance to close the gap heading into the final 20 minutes.

Jock’s shot came just seconds after Celtics Ethan Montroy’s second put his team up 7-3.

There were long stretches when it was feast or famine for both offenses that led to the relatively low-scoring affair.

“Lacrosse is a game of runs and momentum,” Fawthrop said. “At the end of the day, you’re trying to shorten their runs and extend yours.”

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After five more scoreless minutes, Phantoms Alexandre Delormier used a subtle release to bring Akwesasne within two, 7-5, with 14:46 to play.

But Montroy restored the three-goal cushion for an 8-5 Celtics lead.

Delormier, however, was far from ready. He scored twice more, in the fifth and sixth, to sandwich Xavier Gault’s third shot to make it 9-7 with 89 seconds left in the game.

“(Delormier) made us pay when we didn’t defend him properly,” Fawthrop said.

But Matthew Lalonde scored his second with a minute left to ice the 10-7 victory to push Cornwall’s record to 2-0.

“It’s going to be a good run for the rest of the year,” said the Cornwall coach.

Connor Carriere, Seamus O’Connell, Landon Brownlee and Lalonde scored in the first half for the Celtics. Delormier got the first of the game for Akwesasne.

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Other second period shooters were Brownlee and Delormier with two each.

Fawthrop said he expected to put the finishing touches on his 2024 squad in the next 10 days after receiving a few more players from the US prep school.

“We (still) have a lot (of work) to do,” he said. “Our transition game wasn’t as clean as we would have liked.”

Offensively, we did a better job than (Friday) night,” he said of the 6-4 win over the Nepean Knights.

“We were (better) swinging the ball from side to side. But we have a little bit of that left to keep working.”

One aspect to watch will be the maturation of its No. 1 goalie, Logan Pyke, who is still eligible for lacrosse.

“He’s a real up-and-comer — I expect him to go up (the juniors) pretty far,” Fawthrop said.

The Phantoms will host the North Shore Kodiaks on Thursday at 8 p.m., then the Nepean Knights will travel to Akwesasne for a game on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Celtics next game is a road trip to Whitby to play the Warriors on Saturday, stopping in Clarington to play the Shamrox on Sunday. The team heads to Nepean on May 16 to take on the Knights, returning home to the Benson Center to host the Phantoms at 7.30pm on May 23.

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