Flyers gunning for OFSAA rugby medal
The Eden girls rugby team is heading back to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships thanks to a 32-7 victory over the Blessed Trinity Thunder in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association final.
It is the fourth straight year the two teams met in the SOSSA final. Eden lost by 20 in 2021, was defeated by 10 in 2022 and won on kicks in overtime in 2023.
Scoring for the Flyers in the win were: Bella Lewis with three tries; Iye Ogunkeye with two tries; Vasiliki Angelakopoulos with one try; and, Madelaine Templeman with a convert.
The Flyers have outscored their opponents 531-29 this season and will look to improve on their eighth-place finish at OFSAA in 2023.
“What makes this team successful is the amount of experience this team has,” co-captain Lewis said. “We have all been together for the past three years and that has helped the team come a long way in terms of charisma and working well in the field. It has also been a really welcoming environment.”
Lewis, a scrum half, realized this year’s squad would have an excellent chance to return to OFSAA after it played in its first two tournaments of the season.
“Even though the tournament games didn’t count towards OFSAA, seeing the flow of everyone on the field was so good, everyone was so strong and we worked really well together. I knew it was the best team that I had ever played on.”
Co-captain Lauren Vanderwier, who plays prop or eight for Eden, feels this year’s version of the Flyers has a great dynamic.
“We have a tightly knit team which is one of the reasons why we work so well together. Over the last year, we have all worked really hard outside of school as well,” she said. “Everyone had a drive for this season and they took the time to develop their skills.”
Vanderwier feels the strengths of the team are its communication on and off the field and it’s physical strength.
“We have a lot of really strong girls on our team.”
Co-captain Renee Engel, a flyhalf who will be playing for Brock this fall, describes Eden’s style of play as well-structured and fluid.
“Everyone knows where they should be and when a mistake does happen we are very quick to pick it up and keep running with it. We don’t freeze and worry about what we should do. We know what is going to happen and how everyone plays.”
Engel and her teammates are heading to OFSAA with the goal of winning a medal.
“Last year we had such a great experience at OFSAA and it was dynamic. We came in with a really low seed and ended up over-performing what we thought we were going to,” she said. “This year, with the amount of experience that we have, we can come in, play our best rugby, be happy and enthusiastic, and hopefully medal.”
Co-captain Templeman, an inside centre who will be suiting up for McMaster this fall, feels the Flyers gained valuable lessons at OFSAA last year.
“One of the things that we reflected on from last year was when we felt like we were in a comfortable position, we took our foot off the gas a little bit. If you were at the SOSSA game, you would know that we did not do that and that has been a goal for this season,” she said. “We just push through to the end because we ended up losing by a try in two of the three games that we played (at OFSAA). Now we know we have to push right to the finish.”
Templeman believes the OFSAA experience is extremely important.
“We have had difficulty this season finding teams who can really challenge us and the worst thing we can do at OFSAA is to go in thinking we are the best team there because that is just not the reality. We can be but not if we think we are already there. We know we are going to see more challenging teams there and that is really important for us.”
Stef Pavlovich, who coaches the team along with Frank Schilte, Sam Houston, Chi Palata and Lily Freiberger, has watched the team progress each year.
“Just after COVID, the Grade 12s we have now were in Grade 10 and we looked at that group and thought they were the group to build the program on.”
There are 16 Grade 12 players on the team.
The Flyers are heading to OFSAA with a healthy lineup.
“They went in healthy and they really prioritized the recovery, showing up to practice and giving it everything they have,” she said.
There are 51 players on the roster and all of them saw playing time in tournaments and in regular season games. Only 30 players can dress for OFSAA but the entire team will be heading to OFSAA AAA June 3-5 in Peterborough.
Eden’s depth has played a big role in its success.
“It’s huge and we always talk about how important it is to value every member on the team whether you are a starter, an impact sub, you are cheering or you are bringing out water,” Pavlovich said. “We wouldn’t be successful if we didn’t have everyone out there.”
Members of the team are Oyin Adeyemo, Sana Al-karimi, Vasiliki Angelakopoulos, Sydney Barrett, Angelina Bork, Nakyah Branch, Ashlynn Caverly, Karlyn Coveney, Zoe Crowley, Hailey Czegeny, Violet Dueck, Makenzie Dunn, Cheyenne Edwards, Alea Eich, Renee Engel, Hailey Epp, Maddie Essmail, Akira Grieve, Kaleina Grynevych, Kristina Grynevych, Alyssa Hahn, Emily Hambleton, Ellyot Hannon, Mackenzie Harmer, Sara Hepworth, Kaia Jeffrey, Payton Johnston, Julia King, Bella Lewis, Katya Martinovs, Haleigh McAdams, Melania Mead, Fiona Mernica, Iye Ogunkeye, Brooke Powers, Nadia Prifits, Viki Priftis, Athina Priftis, Meadow Racine, Michelle Racine, Keira Reimer, Eve Russell, Tristan Snoei, Bella Stradwick, Madeleine Templeman, Samantha Thompson, Karlyn Van Vliet, Lauren Vanderwier, Ashlyn Vanderwier, Bella Winter and Eva Zhakova.
