Despite the chill Friday night’s storms brought, things heated up quickly at Hawkings Field at the University of Calgary for the Under 18 Women’s National championship tournament. The level of intensity escalated quickly with a title game looming closer.
BC Yellow and Alberta began the day with the last quarterfinal of the tournament; winner would move on to the later afternoon semifinal to face Ontario. Both BC Yellow and Alberta started strong, Alberta gaining ground immediately off a quick transition and BC Yellow responding with staunch defense. BC Yellow capitalized on some craftiness in front of Alberta’s net and Ballard, Godman, and Wong notched 3 goals just minutes apart within the first 7 minutes. Langkammer put two more goals away for Yellow at the end of the first half off of a corner and run of play. Booker, Dye, and Ballard put away three goals in the second half rounding out their total at 8. Alberta persevered until the last minute whereupon #8 Rachel Bailey put in a great goal off transition, to make the final score 8-1.
Manitoba and PEI had a defensive first half of their consolation game, tied at goose eggs until the 14th minute when PEI’s #9 Alyssa Fergusson finished another well-executed penalty corner. That score would take them into them into halftime. The second half was very possession-oriented, both teams taking time to move the ball around the back and outside when possible. Fegusson put in her second goal on the day for PEI at the 43rd minute, and #2 Sarah Sear got one between the posts, as well, rounding out the final score in favor of PEI over Manitoba 3-0.
As the sun heated up, so did the hockey in the afternoon’s semifinals. The BC battle of Blue versus White began with tangible intensity – possession changing hands frequently and fast transitions on both sides. White remained stellar on defense and in the net, until the 12th minute when Blue’s #16 Lindsey Cole had a nice field goal on run-of-play, making the score 1-0 headed into halftime. Blue came out determined in the second half, likely looking for the proverbial nail in the coffin, and found it just two minutes in at the 37th minute from a finished penalty corner by #9 Amber Sandhu. At 2-0, BC White did not let down and saw several opportunities on goal. Blue’s #15 Alexis De Armond finished a penalty corner at the 60th minute for the insurance goal, sending Blue to the Gold Medal Game tomorrow afternoon.
Saturday afternoon ended with a very fast-paced and evenly matched game between Ontario and BC Yellow. Again, both came out hungry for the net but maintaining patience in possession when possible. In the 29th minute, BC Yellow capitalized on a great transition and scuffling around the net, making it 1-0 at halftime. Ontario returned in the second half composed and spreading the field. In the 60th minute, Ontario’s #16 Olivia Lane equalized with a nice chip shot, tying it at ones. 5 minutes later Ontario’s #17 Ashley Mendonca gave them their ticket to the championship off a penalty corner, rounding out the game at 2-1 in Ontario favor.
Tomorrow will be a big day, please follow us on Twitter under @FieldHockeyCan with the hashtag #FHCu18nats for live updates. At 8:30am MDT, Alberta and Manitoba will play a consolation game. At 10:15am MDT, BC White plays BC Yellow for the bronze; and consolation play continues at 1:45pm MDT with Alberta versus PEI. The gold medal game will be at 3:30Pm MDT with BC Blue versus Ontario at Hawkings Field on the University of Calgary campus.
