It may have been their first year in the league, but the Westlock Bantam girls Rock played like seasoned veterans on their way to a gold medal finish in the Greater Edmonton Lacrosse Council playoffs.
The squad defeated the Fort Saskatchewan Rebels 6-5 in overtime for gold on June 27 in Beaumont.
The girls doubled up on the Rebels 4-2 in the first game of the tournament at the Ken Nichol Regional Recreation Centre June 22, following up with an 8-1 stomp down on the Edmonton Warriors at Fort Saskatchewan’s Jubilee Recreation Centre June 25.
The win put the Rock through to a follow-up match against the Rebels, who they defeated for the league championship trophy
Assistant coach Denise Boulerice said that the girls had an outstanding season, the first for Bantam girls’ lacrosse in Westlock in over five years, and that the success was thanks to solid teamwork and previous experience on the ice.
“They had so much fun playing ringette that they decided to play lacrosse,” Boulerice said.
“We had some new people intertwined that liked to run and play a physical game. They transferred that friendship to spring. They were very coachable and ready to try what they were told to do.”
The new team’s success story, Boulerice added, was capped by a winning goal from a new player, Michaela Craig, who scored the overtime goal in the final matchup.
“We were matching their players with our players in terms of experience, but we had one or two positions where we would cycle out the newer girls,” Boulerice said.
“She happened to have some fresh legs out there and got a breakaway. They had a core group of girls going for the gold and they just got tired.”
