Sports

Junior A Northmen claim 2025 Iroquois Trophy with win over Whitby

August 14, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Northmen have claimed the Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League (OJALL) Iroquois Trophy for the second year in a row with a win over the Whitby Warriors in the championship final series on Monday, Aug. 11, in Whitby.

After a stellar season that saw the Northmen finish the regular season in first place and win 27 times in 35 games played this year, the squad raised the Trophy after an overtime win in the final game.

It was a tough-fought series. The Warriors were the number two team in the League.

Whitby won 23 games out of 38 played this year.

Orangeville earned the right to advance to the championship after winning the previous series over the Peterborough Lakers.

That series went six games and ended on July 30 with a 10-5 Orangeville win.

Whitby arrived at the championship after eliminating the Toronto Beaches in a series that went the full seven games.

The championship series got underway on Friday, Aug. 1. The Northmen took the lead with a 7-6 win in Game One.

The series was tied when Game Two ended with a 10-5 win for the Warriors.

Returning to Orangeville for Game Three, there was a large contingent of Northmen fans at Tony Rose Arena.

The teams battled to an 8-8 tie, forcing the game into overtime to decide the winner.

Max Kruger got the only goal in OT to give the Northmen a 9-8 win.

The series was tied when Game Four went into overtime in a low-scoring game that resulted in a 3-3 tie at the end of the third period.

Whitby scored the only goal in OT for a 4-3 win.

The score was reversed in Game Five. This time, the Northmen came out on top with a one-goal 4-3 win to lead the series 3-1.

With a 3-1 lead, the Northmen could end the series with a strong performance in Game Six, and they had to do it in enemy territory in Whitby.

It turned out to be a huge comeback for the Orangeville team after trailing for the entire game and battling it out to the final minute of the third period to tie it up.

The Warriors were leading 3-1 at the end of the first period.

Ayden Matthews got the only Northmen goal in the first period.

Orangeville’s Owen Rahn scored at a minute and a half into the second period.

Whitby took a 4-2 lead with a goal in the middle of the period.

Liam Matthews scored with 9:02 left on the clock.

The Northmen were trailing 5-3 with one period left to play.

The Warriors scored in the first minute of the third to make it a 6-3 game.

Goals from Trey Deere and Liam Matthews closed the gap to make it a 6-5 game.

Another Whitby goal with just over two minutes left on the clock made it a 7-5 game, and it looked like the Northmen were going to have to settle for a loss.

However, they responded to make one of the most exciting finishes to a lacrosse game this year.

With two minutes left on the clock, Orangeville pulled goalie Evan Constantopoulos from the net and put an extra attacker on the floor.

Orangeville’s Aaron Toguri found the back of the Whitby net with 26 seconds remaining.

With the clock ticking down, Max Kruger took the shot and scored with 1 second left on the clock to tie the game at 7-7, and force overtime.

It was all over when Dylan Sanderson scored the only OT goal to give the Northmen an 8-7 win and the 2025 League Championship.

It was an outstanding effort by the Northmen and a thrilling final game for fans to watch.

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