Nicolas Lesage


Nicolas Lesage is a Gabonese born Canadian retired soccer player who played as a striker. Lesage played the majority of the career in the Canadian province of Quebec with stints in USL Premier Development League, USL First Division, and the Canadian Soccer League. His biggest success was with the Trois-Rivières Attak where he was the all-time leading scorer with 31 goals in all competitions, and assisted the club by claiming their first Open Canada Cup and National Division title.

Playing career

Lesage played college soccer with the UQTR Patriotes for five years. During his university career his achievements were being named a member of the CIS all-star team for three years. While still playing for the Patriotes he played one season with the Toledo Slayers of the USL Premier Development League in 2004. On April 23, 2005 he signed a contract with the Montreal Impact of the USL First Division. He featured in most preseason matches, but as the season progressed he failed to make a single appearance in an Impact shirt. As a result he was loaned to the Laval Dynamites in the Canadian Professional Soccer League and helped the club reach the postseason.
After finishing the 2006 season in the Ligue de Soccer Elite Quebec with Trois-Rivières Sélect he was signed by expansion franchise Trois-Rivières Attak for the 2007 CSL season. His signing was announced in a press conference on May 2, 2007. He made his Attak debut in 0–0 tie at Toronto Croatia on May 13, 2007. He scored his first goal against the Canadian Lions on May 20, 2007.
He played an influential role for the Attak in the Open Canada Cup final against the Columbus Clan F.C., coming in as a substitute for Ibrahim Baldeh in 51 minute, where he scored the first goal of the match in the ninth minute. The Attak would end up winning the match 3–0, thus claiming their first trophy in their debut Open Canada Cup tournament. Lesage concluded the season as the Attak and CSL leading scorer with 20 goals combined in all competitions. As the Attak entered the playoffs, Lesage scored the first goal in 3–0 victory eliminating defending CSL champions Italia Shooters in the quarterfinal round. Their playoff run ended on October 21, 2007 against the Serbian White Eagles with two first half goals coincided he scored in the 84 minute to bring life to the Attak, but Serbia hung on and advanced to the finals. On November 4 at the CSL Awards Banquet he was awarded the CSL MVP Award, and the CSL Golden Boot. To add to his silverware Lesage was also awarded the Trois-Rivières Golden Boot award at the Trois-Rivières annual team awards banquet on November 6, 2007.
Lesage extended his contract with the Attak on February 12, 2008. During the 2008 CSL season for the second year in a row he led his team in goals, scoring 8 goals in all competitions. Lesage also helped the Attak claim the National Division title the club's first Division title. On October 11, 2008 he scored the winning goal against St. Catharines Wolves in 2–0 victory in the playoff quarterfinals. In the semi-final match, Lesage contributed a goal in the 75' minute in a 7–0 victory over Portugal FC, and for the first time the Attak advanced into the CSL Championship final where they would face the White Eagles once again. In the final match he came off the bench to score in the 70' minute and tie the game 1–1, after both teams equalized in extra time the game went into penalties where the White Eagles won the match 2–1. At the 2008 Trois-Rivières Attak annual awards banquet, Lesage was awarded for the second consecutive time the Trois-Rivières Attak Golden Boot award with whom he shared with Pierre-Rudolph Mayard for having scored the most goals over the course of the regular season. In the same season Lesage was loaned out to his former club the Montreal Impact, where he appeared in one match.
In 2012, he played in the newly formed Première Ligue de soccer du Québec with L'Assomption.

Honours

Club

;Trois-Rivières Attak