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30 Sp Sports SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011 PROVINCIAL BRONZE: The Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils senior girls' field hockey team won bronze at last week's Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations tournament in Markham. Pictured are team members Dana Ball, Alyssa Bull, Leah Burke, Ellie Cookson, Claire Davies, Sydney De Marchi, Daniela Deschamps, Georgina Dunn, Emily Farquharson, Rachel Fox, Bethany Greer, Katie Jabbour, Lauren Mounce, Claire Newman, Shannon O'Shaughnessy, Rebecca Plouffe, Hannah Rauseo and Hannah Roche, and coaches Jim Groen and Marlene Hume. Rookie netminder helps Devils reach their goals Oakville Trafalgar wins five of six games at OFSAA field hockey to earn bronze By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Each year, Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils field hockey coach Jim Groen asks his players to list their goals for the season on a sheet of paper. Captain Alyssa Bull wrote down four goals: win the AK Pro tournament; win the Halton championship; win the Golden Horseshoe title; and finally, bring home a medal from the provincial high school championships. There was just one little problem in achieving those lofty goals. The team didn't have someone to tend its own goal. Enter Lauren Mounce. After sitting out last year due to a series of ankle injuries, Mounce didn't even intend to play this year until she was approached by some friends on the second day of school. They convinced her to come out to practice. Mounce was not completely new to field hockey. She had played in Grade 9 -- but as a defender, not a goalie. "It was very intimidating," she said. "I knew we'd eventually be going up against some of the best teams in the province." But she quickly gained the confidence of her teammates and the coaching staff. "We knew right away she was the one," Bull said. "The way she was quick off the ball, she learned so quickly and she was trying so hard every practice." The rookie netminder rewarded her teammates' faith. With OT dominating league play, Mounce was rarely tested but it g her time to g gave grow accustomed to the new position. p "We had such a strong team, even though I was playing a full game, every game, I didn't have that much player-ongoalie experience. I wondered how I would do with the pressure of (the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations provincial tournament) but I kind of pleasantly surprised myself," she said. No goalie at last week's OFSAA tournament allowed fewer goals than the three surrendered by Mounce. As a result, Bull was able to check off all her pre-season goals. Oakville Trafalgar earned the bronze medal after Claire Newman and Ellie Cookson scored in a 2-0 win over Pickering Saturday afternoon, helping erase the memories of coming one win short of a medal a year ago. "It was awesome to come home with the bronze, especially after last year when we fell short," said Bull, who was part of the Devils team that lost last year's bronze-medal game in penalty flicks. "We wanted to get up on that OFSAA wall (at the school). We were preparing for this the whole time and we never gave up." The only goals OT surrendered in the tournament came in a 3-2 semifinal loss to Kitchener's Resurrection, which went on to win its second straight provincial title. After falling behind early, Bull tied the game up before the half. Resurrection went up 3-1 in the second half before Bull cut the lead to one with her team-leading eighth goal of the tournament. OT pressed for the tying goal in the final minutes but couldn't get the equalizer. "The last two minutes we were close, we had some scoring opportunities," Bull said. "Thirty more seconds and I think we could have tied it," added Mounce. "I think (Resurrection) got scared there for a bit." The loss was the first in 31 games for the Red Devils, who finished the year with a record of 30-1-1 -- outscoring opponents 151-4 in the process -- after beating Pickering. With a little more than an hour to recover before the bronze-medal game, Bull said the team did a better job of putting the semifinal loss behind them. The medal was the first for the Red Devils since 2006, when Jenna Bull captained OT to a bronze. Now Alyssa will follow in her sister's footsteps once again as she's bound for Rutgers University, where Jenna was a three-time all-Big East Conference player. For Mounce, a Grade 11 student, she'll return to guard the net again next year. In the meantime, her experience this fall has given her the confidence to tackle another new venture with another team with OFSAA aspirations. "I've never really played before, but I think I'm going to play rugby," she said. NOTES: Ellie Cookson had a pair of goals in the Red Devils' 5-0 quarter-final victory. She finished the tournament with five goals... Hannah Rauseo scored in three of OT's five wins... Also scoring goals at the OFSAA tournament were Newman (2), Rebecca Plouffe, Dana Ball, Leah Burke and Danielle Deschamps. -- Herb Garbutt can be followed d on Twitter at @Herbgarbutt