Durham College’s lacrosse sixes ended their inaugural season with a silver medal, after earning five wins and one loss in the regular season.
DC was one of four teams to participate in the exhibition season, which also included Humber Polytechnic, Mohawk College and Fleming College.
The 16-player co-ed team went to the provincial championship at Mohawk at the end of last month.
They won the semi-final game but lost the championship game to the Mohawk Mountaineers, finishing in second place overall.
DC’s director of Athletics and Recreation, Scott Dennis, says the team was created because of the growing popularity of lacrosse in Durham Region.
He says students asked to have their own team.
“Lacrosse is a very popular sport around this region,” Dennis says. “We’ve always been asked ‘hey, do you have a lacrosse team?’ so we saw it as an opportunity to introduce a new sport that was in demand.”
He says students have expressed support for the addition of the sixes, with many students now wanting to get in on the action.
“The interest has been booming. Our coach has been getting emails from students graduating in 2029 about coming to Durham College to play lacrosse,” Dennis says.
Head coach Kyle Curtis is a Whitby native who has coached teams with the Whitby Minor Lacrosse Association, Edge Lacrosse and Team Ontario, as well as the Oshawa Blue Knights.
He competed at the NCAA Division II level with Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina.
Lacrosse sixes is a competitive club sport with both men and women on the same team. The sport is played on a 70 by 36 metre surface with six players on each side.
The four colleges involved this year hope to see lacrosse become a permanent varsity sport in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA).
Any students interested in the Lacrosse Sixes can find more information online at durhamlords.ca.