Team B.C. won its first-ever Canadian Lacrosse Association female midget and bantam box lacrosse national championship title at Bear Mountain Arena in Victoria.
The B.C. bantam team defeated Team Ontario 4-3 in the bantam gold medal final game on Thursday.
The two teams split in the round robin with Ontario winning 4-3 in overtime, while Team B.C. took the second match 5-3.
B.C. jumped out to an early 2-0 lead by goals from New Wesminster's Keeley O'Neill and Megan Kinna of Ridge Meadows.
Ontario answered back to end the first period knotted
at two.
The second frame was filled with great goaltending and tight defense until New West's Katie Browning scored a shorthanded marker at the 6:30 mark of the second to
recapture the lead.
Three minutes later, Elle Hamilton of Juan de Fuca restored B.C.'s two-goal lead after scoring on a breakaway to end the second period.
Team B.C. continued their dominance on face-offs and loose balls pressing Ontario into forced errors. Ontario scored a late goal to make the score 4-3, but B.C. hung on for its first female bantam box Lacrosse gold medal.
The Team B.C. midget girls also struck gold, doubling Team Ontario 4-2 to take the gold medal.
B.C. won both earlier games in the round robin, blanking Ontario 7-0 and 2-1, respectively.
BC scored first in the final with Kaitlyn Yan of Burnaby and Squwey Gottfriedsen of Kamloops scoring single goals to give the home province a 2-0 lead in the first frame.
B.C. continued their high pressure transition game and went up by three with a goal by Marlo Bellamy of Ridge Meadows. Ontario could only manage a single goal after two periods. In the third, Jenna Chernoff of New Westminster gave B.C. a 4-1 lead before Ontario managed a late goal to make the final score 4-2 and complete Team B.C.'s gold medal sweep at the nationals.
For complete tournament information and scores, please visit the B.C. Lacrosse Association website scroll at
www.bclacrosse.com.
