SPORTS BRIEFS: U19 North Stars surge to silver

U19 NORTH STARS SURGE TO SILVER
The Owen Sound Krueger Steel North Stars under-19 girls' field lacrosse team had an excellent showing in Waterloo this past weekend during the OWFL U19 Provincials, bringing home silver in the under-19 B pool. Things got started on Friday with two round-robin games to determine who would move on to the elimination and semifinal rounds, with the North Stars' first match-up against the Orillia Lady Kings 2 squad. Orillia came out strong and took a 2-1 lead midway through the second quarter but then the North Stars responded with four unanswered goals to pull away and end up with a 6-4 victory. The second round-robin game saw the North Stars falling behind against the Newmarket Redbirds who put the Owen Sound club down 3-0 early in the first quarter. The Redbirds held a 5-2 lead in the third quarter until the Scenic City girls came storming back with seven unanswered goals to secure the 9-5 victory and a bye to the semifinals on Saturday. The semifinal saw the N'Stars meet up with a familiar foe in the Newmarket Redbirds, who were looking to avenge their round-robin defeat against Owen Sound, and it made for an excellent back-and-forth affair. This game saw the North Stars control the play early to take a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, but there was no quit in the Redbirds and they fought back to tie the game 4-4 heading into the fourth and final quarter. The North Stars kept their composure and were able to get two more goals in the fourth quarter to come away with a huge 6-5 win to advance to the gold medal game on Sunday. The gold medal game was a best-on-best affair against the only other team to go 3-0 in the tournament, the Mimico Mountaineers 1 squad. The game was a nail-biting back-and-forth match-up. The North Stars started fast with three goals in the first eight minutes of the game, but Mimico came right back with four goals of their own before Owen Sound scored to tie the game at the half, 4-4. Mimico then took a 7-4 lead in the third but the Owen Sound girls didn't quit and fought for two goals in the fourth quarter to pull within one, but then Mimico scored late to get the 8-6 win. The entire team showed great progress throughout the year and really pulled everything together for this final tournament and they should hold their heads high, coaches said. They battled hard every single game to earn the silver medal and they did Owen Sound proud. Scoring over the weekend came from Ryann Seaman with 11 goals, Aliviah McCall and Willow Smith-Spinney with four goals each, Hennessy Koeslag and Katie Marshall with two goals each, and Grace Smyth, Ella McCoubrey, Hannah Davies, Rheah Petereit and Noelle Brewster with 1 goal each. Assists came from Aliviah McCall with three, Ryann Seaman and Willow Smith-Spinney with two each, and Ella McCoubrey and Ainsley Smith with one each. Read More