How do you go through an entire provincial championship tournament without surrendering a goal and yet still end up in third place?
The Collingwood Cavaliers senior girls field hockey team can now solve that riddle but they don't find the answer all that funny. The No. 2-ranked Cavaliers ended up in third place at the AA provincial championships held last week in Oliver despite not allowing a single goal during the run of play. Their title hopes were derailed by a hard-luck loss in penalty strokes following a 0-0 tie against No. 3-ranked St. Michael's University School in the semifinals. Crofton House beat SMUS in the final to take the gold.
The Cavs went on to defeat the hosts from South Okanagan secondary in the third-place match, but on the long drive back to the North Shore their thoughts no doubt wandered back to those bronze medals and the improbable events that kept them from winning something a little shinier.
"Frustrating is the word of the day on that one," said Sara Bruner, co-coach of the team along with Ashleigh Gold and Catherine Underwood. "To not give up a goal and then come in third place — it doesn't make sense. It's frustrating for us, but at the same time that's how sport goes."
The Cavaliers cruised through opening round action and then scored a 4-0 win over their West Vancouver rivals Rockridge in the quarterfinals. That set up the semifinal against SMUS, a game that saw both teams produce good chances without finding the back of the net. Collingwood created a pair of golden opportunities in the 10-minute overtime but failed to score.
The game then went to a penalty shootout that had a bit of controversy. With the score tied 1-1 in the shootout Collingwood goalie Lauren Johnston charged out to make a save, blocking the ball before making contact with the attacking player. She was penalized, however, and the SMUS shooter was awarded a replacement shot, which she slotted home. On the next play Collingwood attacker Rachel Spouge made a move around the SMUS keeper and had an open net but was seemingly tripped up by the goalie and couldn't get a shot off. No replacement shot was awarded, however, and SMUS went on to win the shootout 3-2.
"You never want to blame the umpiring, but there was some frustration," said Bruner. "There were a couple of calls that any sports fan would look at and be like, 'umm, that's not really right.' It's the consistency. If you're going to call something harsh on us, for example, do you do the same (on them)?"
The Collingwood coaches were proud of the team for rebounding in their final game to take home bronze for the second straight year.
"You never want to come fourth, you always want to win that last one," said Bruner. "The girls rallied. It was a bit of a mental test for them whether they could actually gather the strength — they were quite disappointed — and keep on fighting for that bronze, which they did. All credit to them."
The Collingwood coaches said they couldn't have asked for any more from their team, quite literally considering the circumstances of their defensive statistics.
"Our players showed really well," said Bruner. "You always have to keep on fighting. At least we ended on a win, on a positive note. And I can tell you the girls will be very hungry next year."
The Cavaliers have won a medal in each of the past seven provincial championships.
As for Rockridge, they rebounded from their quarter-final loss to win their next two, scoring a fifth-place finish.
"They had an amazing tournament," said Bruner. "A lot of the players on our team are really close to the players on their team, so they were thrilled for them. They did really well."
