Team Saskatchewan just couldn’t find a way to regain their winning ways from the first days of the male box lacrosse competition at the Canada Summer Games and will be coming home with an eighth-place finish in the elite multi-sport event.
Moose Jaw Lacrosse Association products Cashton Seaborg and Mason Williams were joined by former Mustangs standout and current Swift Current player Carter Michaluk on Team Sask at the tournament.
After dropping a 9-7 decision to Nova Scotia in their first consolation game, Team Sask rematched Manitoba in the seventh-eighth place contest, having battled to a 4-4 draw in their first game of the round robin back on Aug. 16.
This time around, Manitoba scored four goals in the first period and never looked back, leading 6-2 through two before outscoring Saskatchewan 3-2 in the final frame and taking a 9-4 win.
Williams scored his first goal of the tournament to open scoring for Team Sask, with his marker coming at the 8:45 mark of the second period.
Michaluk picked up two assists to cap the competition as one of Saskatchewan’s leading scorers, putting up two goals and 15 points through their seven games. Seaborg was held without a point and capped his run with a goal and four assists.
Saskatchewan got off to a solid start with the aforementioned tie with Manitoba, a 10-2 win over P.E.I. and 8-4 victory over New Brunswick, but suffered through a handful of close losses the rest of the way.
That included a 5-3 loss to Quebec to close out the round robin, with Team Sask’s 2-1-1 record settling them into third place.
An 8-5 defeat at the hands of B.C. in the quarter-final dropped Saskatchewan into the consolation round, setting up their final two games.
Saskatchewan finished eighth in both the male and female lacrosse tournament, with Mustangs veteran Mykenzie Shymko captaining the women’s team in the first week of the Games.
Saskatchewan finished the Canada Summer Games with 31 medals, including two gold and 13 silver, to finish seventh in the overall medal standings.
Both gold medals were won on the track during the second week of the Games.
Borden’s Savannah Sutherland -- who was one of the standout performers at the SHSAA track and field championships in Moose Jaw in 2019, setting three provincial records -- won gold in the 400-metre hurdles on Friday
Saskatoon’s Jasmine Fehr claimed the other Saskatchewan gold in the 5,000 metres Saturday, part of a one-two finish with Waseca’s Jenna McFadyen.
