Athletics U15 bring home gold
The St. Catharines Athletics lived up to their seeding at the Ontario Lacrosse Festival in Whitby.
The U15 girls, who went into provincials as the No.1 ranked team in Ontario after a season that saw them go 14-2-2 including a tournament championship in Kitchener, took home the gold medal with a 3-2 win over Burlington in the final.
Head coach Scott Turner said the A’s embraced their seeding.
“I think it’s great for the kids to go in that way because it builds their confidence,” he said. “They showed that, especially as we went on in the tournament. A lot of teams like to go in as the underdog and I can understand why, but this group of kids believe in themselves and their talent.”
Turner said watching the team celebrate was the icing on the cake to a memorable season.
“There really is truly nothing better than seeing the kids so excited at the end of that tournament,” he said. “An absolute pleasure to see them as excited as they are and to really enjoy that with each other. They really are such a great group of kids. They all got along really well and you could see that in that moment.”
The A’s played Burlington and Kitchener in round-robin play winning with convincing 8-0 and 6-0 victories, respectively. After a 7-2 win against Barrie in the semifinals, the A’s edged Burlington 3-2 in the gold medal game.
The A’s were down 2-1 after one and the game was tied 2-2 after two periods.
“We got a goal (by Ella Schmidt) with about eight minutes left in the third and then had to battle it out for the final eight minutes with some penalty trouble, so it was a big win,” Turner said. “Being a gold medal game I think everybody brings their best effort. We saw a Burlington team that we have had some good games with over the season come out flying. We had to weather the storm for the first period and then we clawed our way back into taking over the game in the third.
“It was a well-deserved win for the girls who gave maximum effort to come out on top.”
Members of the team are: Schmidt, Tess Lazaruk, Liana Jimmerson, Mya Steenstra, Aubrey Crich, Yehahiyu Printup, Maliah Paul, Kate Marsh, Sofie-Lynn Burnison, Matilda Sarginson, Emily Kapitanchuk, Mia McCready (A), Elizabeth Turner, Kaitlin Stone, Kaliyah Jones, Avery Williams (A), Makenna Vinc (C), and Sofie Humphries.
Turner, Eric Vinc, Maddy McCready and Steve Stone composed the coach staff.
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