After scoring 88 goals, 32 assists and racking up 28 penalty minutes, Carleton Ravens men’s lacrosse attack Aaron Woods has wrapped up his university lacrosse career.
Woods finds himself near the top for most all-time stats at Carleton, including third all-time for goals and second all-time for penalty minutes.
He joined the team in 2013 and played four seasons while earning a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering at Carleton.
The Charlatan sat down with Woods to discuss his past four years as a Raven athlete and what he has accomplished during his career.
The Charlatan (TC): How did you get started playing lacrosse?
Aaron Woods (AW): Just when I was younger, growing up in a sort of a smaller town, lots of the older kids played lacrosse and we would always be passing the ball around on the street and stuff, and that’s what kind of got me involved, and once I started playing I just fell in love with it.
TC: Are there any moments from your time as a Raven that really stick out to you?
AW: I think beating [the University of Ottawa] this year was a pretty big accomplishment. We have always had close games with them, and just to get that win in the second game kind of leaves a taste of success in your mouth.
TC: Any thoughts on how your final season went?
AW: I thought it went well. It could have went better, we didn’t win as many games as we would have liked to, but I think every team in the league saw us as a competitor and no one took us lightly and it showed a lot of promising things for the upcoming seasons.
TC: Are there any achievements you’re especially proud of from your time as a Raven?
AW: I’d say this year, I was an honourable mention for the All-Canadians and that’s a pretty big accomplishment in the league, so that’d probably be the highest thing.
TC: What will you miss most about the team and your time at Carleton? Is there anything you won’t miss?
AW: The things that I would miss most I would say are just getting to see, like, 40 of my friends every day at practice and just playing sports—a nice break from studying or whatever you have going on, you can always go to lacrosse and have a ton of fun. For things I wouldn’t miss—there’s nothing I wouldn’t miss—if I could play another year I would definitely come back.
TC: Is there any advice you would give to players joining the team?
AW: Just not to be shy, just to go out there and do your best and that all the guys are really accepting on the team and it’s a big family so just keep working hard and you’ll have a great time.
TC: What was it like to balance an engineering workload while playing for Carleton? Did you find it hard to do so? If not, what helped you to balance the two?
AW: It was tough to balance engineering, but I really enjoyed playing lacrosse and didn’t want to let my team down so I figured out how to manage my time pretty quick. There were a few players on the team that were also in engineering, so they were able to give me advice and help me understand my classwork better. This made it much easier knowing I always had help if I needed it. The coaches were also very understanding that school comes first, but were always pushing me to be the best student athlete I could be.
