Stingy defences, hot goaltenders and shorthanded goals powered Team sa国际传媒 to the girls' bantam and midget Canadian Lacrosse Association championships on Thursday at Bear Mountain Arena.
In the bantam final, shorthanded goals by Keeley O'Neill and Katie Browning sparked Team sa国际传媒 to a 4-3 victory over Team Ontario.
Megan Kinna and Elle Hamilton also scored for Team sa国际传媒, while Jessica Digirolamo, with two and Melanie Camacho countered for Team Ontario.
During the round-robin portion of the championship, Team sa国际传媒 and Team Ontario split two games.
Team Ontario won 4-3 in overtime and Team sa国际传媒 bounced back with a 5-3 win in the second contest.
The teams were tied 2-2 after the first period before Browning and Hamilton, the team's captain, gave Team sa国际传媒 a two-goal cushion.
"We lost last year's final 4-3 to Ontario so it feels good to win this one,'' said the 13-year-old Hamilton, who plays in the Juan de Fuca system. "I'm not really a goal scorer but when I had that breakaway my dad [former lacrosse player Grant] always told me to shoot to the far side of the net. That is what I did and I picked the top corner of the net.''
Dan Stroup, coach of Team sa国际传媒 and a former Western Lacrosse Association and National Lacrosse League player, was impressed with his team's performance. "I'm so proud of the girls,'' said Stroup.
"They did everything we asked them to do. Our goaltending [Bianca Ballarin] was outstanding. We also had huge efforts from our penalty killing and shorthanded units.''
Team Alberta won the bronze-medal game, downing Team Nova Scotia 12-1.
In the midget final, Team sa国际传媒 jumped into a 4-0 second-period lead en route to a 4-2 win over Team Ontario.
Team sa国际传媒's overall defence was outstanding, limiting Team Ontario to just a handful of scoring chances.
"I'm a big believer in that defence wins championships,'' said Team sa国际传媒 coach Pat Coyle, who was one of the best on defence during his years in the WLA and the NLL. "The girls bought into the system and I'm really proud of how they played.''
Scoring for Team sa国际传媒 were Kaitlyn Yan, Squwey Gottfriedsen, shorthanded, Marlo Bellamy and Jenna Chernoff. Jamie van Goozen and Jocelyne Lemay replied for Team Ontario.
Captain Selena Lasota from Campbell River chipped in with two assists. The other Islanders on the team are goaltender Talia Mavin and Laura Gosselin.
"I'm very happy that we were able to win this,'' said Lasota, with tears of joy streaming down her face.
"Our defence was outstanding and all of the coaches helped with the game plan.
I was very confident going into the third period [4-1 lead] because of the way we were playing.''
In the bronze-medal game, Alberta scored in the second overtime period to edge Nova Scotia 3-2.
This was the third year for the bantam championship and the second for the midgets. It is the first time that Team sa国际传媒 has claimed any of the titles. [email protected]
