Myer girls seek more curling glory
A.N. Myer is one step closer to capturing the two biggest prizes in high school girls curling.
The Gore provincial champions qualified for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships March 20-23 in North Bay Tuesday with a 10-2 victory over Grimsby in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association final Tuesday at the Welland Curling Club.
The Myer rink, made up of skip Megan Ford, vice Jessica Zheng, second Kate Phillips, lead Abby Zwarun and alternate Fayzeh Abou Ardat, took control of the SOSSA final early, scoring two with the hammer in the first end and stealing four in the second end and a single in the third end.
“We just stayed focus and we keep in mind what our goal was coming into the game,” Zheng said. “Getting that early lead helped our mindset.”
A.N. Myer, 6-0 in Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 3 league play, defeated Jean Vanier 14-0 in the Zone 3 semifinals and E.L. Crossley 6-3 in the zone final. In the overall Zone 3 final, Myer defeated Notre Dame 15-0.
In the SOSSA semifinals, Myer thumped Westmont 10-3.
“This is our second year together and it feels like we have bonded a lot,” Zheng said. “We know each other really well and we communicate and work well together on the ice.”
Last year, the rink made it to OFSAA and the Gore provincials, but went winless at Gore and won only its final game at OFSAA.
“I feel like we understand the game more now,” Zheng said. “We had Gore provincials and OFSAA last year and we learned from our mistakes.”
Myer is going to try its best to win OFSAA this year.
“Last year was more of a rebuilding year and a learning experience for us,” she said. “We know the competition is going to be strong and there is going to be a lot of good rinks there.”
Zheng is in her third year of curling and is a much different player now.
“In Grade 9, I was just learned the game and I stepped it up in Grade 10,” she said. “I have really improved this year with the help of my coaches and practising more.”
Grimsby made it to the SOSSA final with a 11-4 victory over E.L. Crossley (skip Kaitlyn Palmateer, Fallon Lodde, Claire Norton, Marissa Palmateer and Zivi Schaffer).
The Grimsby rink, made up of skip Megan McIntosh, vice Abigail Salari, seconds Natalie Cowan and Teagan Whitehead and lead Lily Robert, was in tough in the SOSSA final against a strong Myer squad.
“That is the first time we have played a team of that calibre this season and we expected that going in,” said 16-year-old McIntosh.
The Grade 11 student feels her team benefitted from playing Myer.
“You really learn what you need to work on because things really stand out,” she said. “You notice the mistakes that you’ve made.”
Grimsby, which ended up 6-0 in NRHSAA Zone 4 league play, beat Sir Winston Churchill 12-5 in the NRHSAA Zone 4 final and St. Francis 11-0 in the overall Zone 4 final.
McIntosh said there was no secret to the team’s success.
“It was the way we worked together and we had good communication and shot making,” McIntosh said. “We were really positive the whole time.”
It was a building process for the Grimsby team to finally win a Zone 4 crown this year.
“Throughout Grade 9 and 10, the team kept getting better and a whole bunch of new Grade 9s came in this year and I was really excited to play with them because I play with them outside of school when I first started curling,” she said.
Two girls on the rink were in Grade 10 and two others are in Grade 9.
“We are hoping we can maybe make it to OFSAA next year,” McIntosh said. “We need more communication and execution.”
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