The Mavericks elite lacrosse team won a bronze medal in the midget division at the USBOX Lacrosse Nationals tournament, held in Irvine, Calif. from August 1 to 3.It was the second straight year the team finished on the podium at the competition after beating the Cali-Lax Allstars 8-6 in the bronze medal game.The team went undefeated in round-robin play.“We actually did better in the round robin than we did last year,” said head coach Trey Christensen, from Innisfail. “We just had a rough stretch in the semifinals but they came together extremely well. We had a bit more time with them this year and all kids really bought in and just got along.”Christensen's team was comprised of 15- and 16-year-old boys from all over Central Alberta, including Olds, Innisfail, Didsbury, Blackfalds, Lacombe, Rimbey and Three Hills.They were the only non-U.S. team in the midget tournament.Last year, the Mavericks won gold but this time around, lost in a shootout against the Denver Elite team in the semifinals.“USBOX is developing, right? It's still new for them so they were a lot better this year than they were last year for sure,” he said.Despite the tougher opposition, assistant coach Dave Welton said the Mavericks' performance was just as good as the year before.“The teams, I would say, were slightly better but we only missed going into the gold medal by an overtime shootout,” Welton said. “So it was just as close as last year but we were just on the wrong side of a shootout win versus a shootout loss.”Christensen said there were four returning players from last year, adding that the team recruited new ones by reaching out to all the lacrosse clubs in the area.“This year, we sent out an invitation to every president of every Central Alberta club,” he said. “Telling them to come try out and once they try out, we had evaluators come in from all around and we picked them from there.”The Mavericks team was a chance for Central Alberta lacrosse players to get a taste of high-level competition, he said.“It's a really great experience. I think the kids all learned a lot.”The following members of the Mavericks were from Olds: Matthew Gaudette, Tanner Filipchuk, Aidan Filipchuk, Graysen Cameron, Caden Switzer, Damian Vickers and Jordan [email protected]
