It was an impressive weekend for Ridge Meadows Minor Lacrosse, as five teams medalled at box lacrosse provincial tournaments.
Two years ago, the Ridge Meadows Minor Lacrosse pee wee girls team won a provincial championship. This year those same girls were back at the B.C. tournament, now as bantams. But girls lacrosse is growing, so this time that championship squad was divided between two Maple Ridge Burrards teams.
Both teams medalled, winning gold and bronze.
Jason McDole coached Team 2, which won the gold medal. The two teams met in their first game of the tournament on Thursday, and McDole’s girls won 7-1.
They next beat Port Moody 4-0, then on Friday blew out tournament host Coquitlam 9-0, giving Team 2 just one goal against for the first three games of the tournament. That was an incredible feat for the team defence, and for goaltender Candace McDole, the coach’s daughter, given the rarity of a lacrosse shutout.
The only player to get one past McDole in that stretch of games was Maple Ridge Team One’s Nicole Pahnke.
In the semi-finals they beat Coquitlam 7-3, then dominated the gold medal game 7-2 over Port Coquitlam.
Megan Stewart was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
There were also game MVP awards given out, and they went to Ashley Kingsbury, Paige Bell, Adriana Bertoia and Aolani Cant.
Coach McDole said the girls are friends, and have fun on and off the floor.
“It’s all about the changeroom stuff – they’re such a good group,” he said.
“They like each other, they go to battle with each other, and they work their butts off.”
There are five girls on the team who will be on Team B.C. this year, which is also being coached by McDole. They are Kingsbury, Bell, McDole, Sarah Ickert and Megan Stewart. Pahnke will also be on the team.
The Team 1 bronze medallists played their second game against Nanaimo, winning 7-3, then lost to Port Coquitlam 6-4. In the semi-final game they lost to Port Coquitlam 3-2, which dropped them to the bronze medal game, where they beat Coquitlam 4-2.
Kingsbury and Pahnke both won Warrior Fair Play awards for their teams.
The Ridge Meadows Juniors had a win over Coquitlam 6-4 to open the provincials, then lost to two New Westminster teams 4-3 and 6-3. In the bronze medal game they again beat Coquitlam 6-3. Wes Eaton won the award for junior fair play coach.
Pee wee boys
The pee wee boys A1 and A2 teams both won silver medals in their respective provincial tournaments.
The pee wee A1 boys started the tournament Wednesday with a 9-3 win over Saanich, opened Thursday with a 7-4 win over Burnaby, then lost to New West in a close 9-8 decision. A 7-5 win over Juan de Fuca paved their way to the playoff round, and they took one more loss to Coquitlam, 7-1.
Then they faced Juan de Fuca in the semis, which they won 7-5. That set up a close gold medal game, and a 7-5 loss to New West.
Reece Hansford won the Warrior Fair Play Award.
The A2 boys lost to Kelowna 7-3, then beat Juan de Fuca 5-4, North Delta 9-6 and Richmond 8-1. That set up a final-game matchup with Nanaimo, and after a 4-2 loss the Burrards settled for silver.
Braeden Washington was chosen as the most valuable player in the A2 division, and Will Carriere won the Warrior Fair Play Award.
There is more lacrosse still to come, with bantam boys provincials this weekend, and the Burrards midgets in playdowns.