Southwood piles up wins
Sabres will be one of the teams to beat when field hockey playoffs commence Thursday
CAMBRIDGE — Jen Bean has won three OFSSA field hockey medals as a member of the Resurrection Phoenix.
The Grade 12 student, whose family moved from Waterloo to Cambridge this year, is hopeful she can collect a fourth trinket next month in Burlington, this time as a member of the Southwood Sabres.
Bean and her new teammates continued their strong Waterloo County (WCSSAA) season Tuesday afternoon at Riverside Park, scoring a 4-1 win over the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels and a 5-0 win over the Galt Ghosts. The Sabres improved to 8-0-1 on the season and will be one of the teams to beat when playoffs start next Thursday.
“I really like it here, the team is great and the girls are awesome,” said Bean. “I still have good friends there, but this is my team now and it would be great to get to OFSAA with these girls.”
Bean enjoyed a huge amount of success at Resurrection, winning the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship in her first two years and settling for silver last year after falling to the Bluevale Knights in a hard-fought final.
Bluevale lost four key players from last year’s squad, including national team player Jordyn Faiczak, but is once again a force to be reckoned with. The Knights, who are also 8-0-1 after Tuesday’s slate of games, played the Sabres to a 2-2 tie last week in a possible preview of the WCSSAA final.
Taylor Trussler, McKenna Nurse and Brooke Ritchie have led Southwood’s offence this year and continued to shine Tuesday. Trussler scored three times against Cameron Heights and added another three against Galt, while Ritchie scored against Cameron Heights. Abbi Blackburn had two against Galt.
Ashley Vos has played a strong defensive role and Christine Perrie handled the goaltending duties.
“I love the whole vibe on this team, everyone gets along and we’re having fun,” said Ritchie, who calls Bean a welcome addition.
“It’s nice to have a fresh look on things and she’s kind of given us the inside on what it takes to get to be successful. It’s really nice to have that.”
The Sabres have been knocking on the WCSSAA championship door for the past three seasons but have yet to make it to the final. Bluevale is the league’s three-time defending champion and has beaten Cameron Heights in the past two finals.
The Golden Gaels were expected to be a top team but were thrown for a loop when Sam McCrory, a national-calibre player, transferred to the Invictus Academy. The team, which is led by the likes of Katie Allen and Grace Leahy, is still capable of making noise in the playoffs but would obviously be farther ahead with McCrory. Audrey Scanlan scored in the loss to Southwood.
It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Bean go up against her old teammates in this month’s Central Western Ontario championship. Resurrection is battling the St. David Celtics for the District 8 title and at least two teams from WCSSAA advance to CWOSSA.
The Sabres and Phoenix met in a recent tournament game and Bean admits it felt a tad strange.
“It’s nice seeing familiar faces but it felt a little weird,” she said. “They’re all still good friends and being able to play against them (at CWOSSA) would be nice.”
Teams from Waterloo Region have combined to win the past 11 OFSAA championships. St. John’s-Kilmarnock got the ball rolling with four straight championships starting in 2006, Resurrection won in ’10, ’11, ’12, ’14 and ’15, Sir John A. Macdonald won in ’13, and Bluevale won last year.