Cup is half full and then some for Laurentian Voyageurs field lacrosse

How can an opening game 16-5 loss possibly be viewed as reason for optimism?

To be fair, the read from Laurentian Voyageurs lacrosse head coach Matt Delabbio and his players is actually right on the money.

Some context: the above-noted setback came at the hands of the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association juggernaut that is the Western Mustangs — a team to which Laurentian lost last year by a final score of 15-2 — and which beat McMaster 15-3 in Game 1 of their fall of 2026 schedule.

More context: Oct. 6, 2018 was the last time that the lacrosse Voyageurs tasted victory in league play, though they did fall in overtime to the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks last year.

Even more context: with a team that is 80 per cent comprised of first- and second-year LU student-athletes, players on the Laurentian side may have given in to entering its opener a tad awestruck, falling behind 6-0 after the opening quarter of play before getting their feet under them and actually finishing with a 3-3 draw over the final 15 minutes.

“Honestly, the skill we have is enough to be effective and do some damage in this league,” said 20-year-old third-year offensive midfielder Rowan Smith.

A product of the lacrosse-heavy Six Nations region, halfway between Hamilton and Lake Erie and slightly southeast of Brantford, Smith has seen his fair share of top-end play in a sport he enjoyed, largely in the indoor box setting, for much of his youth.

“I played a couple of years of field in elementary school, but I was a goalie,” he said with a smile. “This is my first shot at a high level of field lacrosse.”

That said, he is among those on hand, armed with the knowledge of the necessary steps that would allow the Laurentian lads to become a respectable mid-pack competitive entry.

“It all comes down to executing our systems, making sure we communicate, and not getting stuck in our heads and running individual plays,” Smith said.

“It will come together by working together and not playing as individuals. You’ve got to be able to swing that ball to everybody to get people open.”

The early signs of hope included a two-goal performance from Jake Sudsbury, as well as solo efforts from Kai Erkkila, Noah Stoneman and Matteo Di Ciccio. At the other end of the pitch, four-year veteran Landen Humphries from Owen Sound has now settled into a very solid knowledge of his position as long pole.

“In box, when they come close, you give them a crosscheck,” Humphries said. “In field, you can’t really do that, so it’s a different style of defending that you have to adjust to. It can be hard at first, but after a few reps, you get it down.

“You just have to manage the distance well with the player you are defending, always staying between them and the net. And then take the top side, lay the body a little bit and always keep your head on a swivel.”

Like Humphries, Smith played as a defender in box lacrosse before making the move to his cardio-heavy role as midfielder.

“I mainly stick to the offensive side — we have a bunch of D-middies (defensive midfielders) who are crazy. They’ll eat you up.”

A third-year student in concurrent education with a major in biology, Smith looks back on a 10-9 loss to Laurier and a home matchup with McMaster, which LU led 9-8 at the half, as the sources of a game plan to hit the win column this fall.

“It will take exactly what we had in those games: a lot of hard work and a lot of plays where everyone got involved,” he said.

A member of the team from 2015 to 2019, an era during which Laurentian could win as often as it would lose in any given year, Delabbio is adamant that a return to better times is not an unreachable goal.

“Our entire coaching staff have lived this program and now want to give back to see it be successful, to give the players the opportunity to keep playing and experience what we experienced.”

Delabbio acknowledged that the fact that his time predated a shot clock certainly favoured Laurentian when it came to keeping games close — and that the overall level of play has only increased in CUFLA due to rules that allow players to return to Ontario after already competing at the NCAA level or even as pros in the National Lacrosse League.

Still, he believes that for as much as folks can suggest the lack of success at Laurentian makes it impossible to attract the type of talent required to hit the win column, there are realities of the landscape here in Sudbury that can be used to his advantage on the recruitment trail.

“We are looking for the right type of player that wants to be here, that wants to help build the program back up,” Delabbio said. “And there are selling points: a smaller school with smaller class sizes and a more personal touch with teachers.”

“And guys are going to have a unique opportunity to come in and play right away versus sitting on the bench for a year or two.”

The 2026 Laurentian Voyageurs lacrosse roster includes Logan Ngouv, Noah Stoneman, Noah Norton, Kai Erkilla, Luke Laevens, Adam Haffner, Jake Sudsbury, Emmett Cancilla, Grant Petronech, Spencer Kennedy, Luca Di Ciccio, Ryan Lou, Kevin McFarlane, Rowan Smith, Ethan Roos, Andrew Stephen, Landen Humphries, Cody Brown, Matteo Di Ciccio and Avery Brookes.

The team plays host to the Brock Badgers this coming Saturday and the Western Mustangs on Sunday, both at 2 p.m., though Delabbio noted the two “must-see games” on the schedule at home are likely on Oct. 11 versus the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and on Oct. 25 versus the McMaster Marauders.

Randy Pascal’s That Sudbury Sports Guy column appears regularly in The Sudbury Star.