Let’s hear it for the girls
It’s hard to imagine a more perfect way to begin a program than what the St. Catharines Athletics girls under-13 box team accomplished this summer.
The Athletics ran the table in their first season, going undefeated at 17-0, culminating with a gold medal at the Ontario Lacrosse Association U13 provincial championships.
“The U13 is the first year of the program in St. Catharines so we really didn’t know what to expect, to be honest,” A’s coach Scott Turner said. “We weren’t sure what we were up against. We really didn’t have an idea of how we fared.
“It started off and then all of a sudden we looked at each other and said, ‘OK, these kids are really on top of their game and we’ve got a shot at it.’ ”
The majority of the players came from the A’s U13 field lacrosse program, which captured a silver at the provincials.
“We knew we had a lot of talented kids with a lot of skill and a lot of athletes so it really did translate,” Turner said. “We were (starting from zero). The field program, from a girls’ perspective, that’s the foundation and box for girls is really in its infancy in this area.”
At the provincials, the A’s defeated Center Wellington, Guelph and Burlington in the round-robin before playing Burlington in the final where they came away with a convincing 9-0 victory. The A’s outscored their opponents 40-2 throughout the weekend.
Turner feels the championship will only help with the program going forward.
“Success creates interest. When we’re trying to build something where there’s so much opportunity for the girls, it’s nice to be able to have their friends out to watch games and see us do really well. It’s a good opportunity for us to promote the sport, for sure,” he said.
Members of the winning team are: Charlotte Olsen, Matilda Sarginson, Elizabeth Turner, Ella Schmidt, Yehahiyu Printup, Sabina Cahill (A), Lucia Sirianni, Elizabeth Yerich, Sophie Humphries, Kacy Chan-Hill, Kaitlin Stone, Amira Hamdani (A), Aubrey Crich, Tess Lazaruk, Mia McCready (C).
Turner, Steve Stone and Sallah Hamdani were the coaches.
The U13 field squad came up just short in their quest for gold, dropping a 5-3 decision to Oshawa in the championship final.
St. Catharines defeated Toronto Beaches 11-2, Kitchener-Waterloo 9-3 and Halton Hills 10-5 in the semifinals.
Members of the team are: Yehahiyu Printup, Elizabeth Turner, Ella Schmidt (A), Kaitlin Stone, Gracie Steenhuis, Tess Lazaruk, Sophie Humphries, Matilda Sarginson, Amira Hamdani, Mia McCready (C), Mya Stienstra, Elizabeth Yerich, Lucia Sirianni.
Steve Stone, Alexandra Printup and Scott Turner were the coaches.
Turner, Printup, McCready, Humphries, Schmidt and Kaitlin Stone were also chosen for Team Ontario which lost in the gold medal game at the Nationals in Regina. It is the first year of the U13 division at the Nationals. The team was coached by Pat McCready.
Overall, the girls program flourished this summer capturing a U19 team provincial A field championship, a U19 provincial C bronze medal in field, A U17 provincial A silver in box and a U15 provincial bronze medal.
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