Field hockey Knights find themselves in familiar territory
KITCHENER — The Bluevale Knights have a tough act to follow.
Their own.
The two-time defending allOntario (OFSAA) field hockey champions continued their run at a fifth consecutive Waterloo County (WCSSAA) crown Tuesday afternoon with a 5-0 win over the Forest Heights Trojans at Woodside Park. Sarah Dunbar, with two, Lauren Davies, Meagan Hobson and Sophie Schmidt did the damage on offence, Kayla Desormeau recorded the shutout, and the Knights advanced to a playoff semifinal game Thursday against the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels.
“Each and every year has been a challenge but we have managed to stay successful and hopefully we can do that again,” said Schmidt, a talented midfielder who also plays midget AA ice hockey in Waterloo.
“There are some really strong teams (in WCSSAA) this year, but we’ve been battling super hard and putting everything into practice to be successful.”
Grade 12 players Sidney Evans, Becca Passmore, Sara Thompson and Schmidt have known nothing but success during their time with Bluevale. The only blemish, for lack of a better term, is when the Knights won bronze at the 2015 OFSAA championship.
The Knights lost seven players to graduation from last year’s championship team and another four decided against returning. The large exodus created space for newcomers and the current squad features 12 players in their first year of high school.
Still, the results continue to be positive.
Bluevale, which is coached once again by Tara Macey and Nicole Malatches, opened its WCSSAA campaign with 1-0 loss to Cameron Heights but finished the regular season with 10 wins and a pair of ties.
The Week 1 loss, said Schmidt, might actually have been a blessing in disguise.
“The ‘team to beat’ thing has been taken off,” she said. “The bar is high, but we’ll find a way to pull through.”
Cameron Heights advanced to the semifinals with a 2-0 win over the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders as Mare Prober and Emma Lunnie did the scoring and Heyden Cowie notched the shutout.
Thursday’s second semifinal will pit the Waterloo Vikings against the Elmira Lancers.
WCI advanced with a 1-0 win over the Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders, with Mallory Brown scoring the game’s only goal and Elisabeth Hettinga notching the shutout. Elmira moved on with a 5-0 win over the KCI Raiders, with Julia Code scoring twice, and Abby Burkholder, Morgan Hanley and Delaney Douglas adding singles. Faith Peev recorded the shutout for Elmira.
The WCSSAA final is set for Monday at Woodside Park but all four semifinalists will survive to play another day.
WCSSAA sends three teams to next week’s Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) championship in Kitchener, which means Thursday’s losers will meet in a play-in game Monday.
Meanwhile, the District 8 final will be contested Wednesday at Woodside Park, with the Resurrection Phoenix attempting to win their 10th consecutive title against the St. Mary’s Eagles in a 4:30 p.m. showdown.