Rematch set for SOSSA girls curling final
Myer skip Jessica Zheng, shown above, throws a rock during Monday’s SOSSA semifinals at the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club.
Familiar foes will meet in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association girls curling final Tuesday at the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club.
In SOSSA semifinal action Monday, Grimsby’s Abbey Salari rink thumped Westmount 13-1 and the defending SOSSA champion A.N. Myer rink, skipped by Jessica Zheng, tripled Denis Morris 12-4.
“We ended playing Myer in the final last year and we ended up losing to them in a close game,” said Salari, a Grade 11 student.
Salari and her rink, made up of vice Megan McIntosh, second Lilly Roberts, lead Teagan Whitehead and alternate Sarah Puhl, are thrilled to be within one game of qualifying for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ championships March 25-28 in Durham.
“I am really excited. Our vice is in Grade 12 and this is her last year to try and get to OFSAA,” Salari said. “She has been trying all four years of high school and I really want to lead the team there.”
An OFSAA berth would cap what has already been a great season. Two weeks ago, the Grimsby squad won the Ontario School Curling Provincial Championships (formerly Gore), going unbeaten and defeating Paris District 6-5 in the final
“We’ve only lost one game this season and we ended up meeting that team at the finals of Gore,” Salari said. “We were really happy with winning that because we’re really nervous going into that game.”
The 17-year-old credits familiarity and friendship with her rink’s success this season.
“We all curl together outside of school too and we have been together for five years. We all know each other really well and we all get along,” Salari said. “It is really important in curling because the teams are so small. You only have four people on the team unlike soccer where you have 20. You have to like each other and communicate well with each other.”
Zheng’s rink, consisting of vice Abby Zwaryn, second Katie Walfenberg and lead Leah Szywaga, has a high standard of achievement to live up to when it comes to Myer girls curling.
Zheng won Gore provincials in Grade 9, made it to Gore and OFSAA in Grade 10, and then won Gore again in Grade 11 and qualified for the OFSAA quarter-finals. This year, the rink went 0-3 at the Gore provincials.
“We have an amazing coach (Patty Rodgers) and we practice twice a week and whenever we are free,” she said, in explaining the school’s on-ice success.
The 17-year-old Grade 12 skip is the only club curler on her school team and she is in her first year of club curling,
She would love to return to OFSAA, but isn’t looking ahead.
“We are just focusing on each shot, one rock and one end at a time.”
Zheng knows Grimsby will be a tough opponent in Tuesday’s SOSSA final at the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club.
“We are just going to focus on our shots and make them,” she said.
Making up the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association (Zone 2) championship rink from Denis Morris were skip Alessa Mirabella, Kaitlyn Burch, Isabel D’Amico, Julia Peacock, Isabella Worden and Olivia Zych.
