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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 11 | Wednesday, June 4, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Oakville native Dan Dawson accepts the Champion's Cup MVP trophy from National Lacrosse League commissioner George Daniel after leading the Rochester Knighthawks to their third straight NLL championship Saturday in Rochester. | photo by Micheline Veluvolu -- courtesy of Rochester Knighthawks After benefitting from metal, Raiders seek OFSAA medal Only a couple inches of metal separated the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders from the Assumption Crusaders this season in Halton high school senior girls' soccer. After playing to a 1-1 stalemate through regulation and overtime of Thursday's Halton A/AA final at North Park, the Raiders and Crusaders needed a shootout to decide the regional champion. Both teams drilled shots off the crossbar, with Assumption doing it twice. Both of the Crusaders' blasts off the bar bounced down and stayed out of the net, while the Raiders' shot deflected down and into the goal -- the difference as Aquinas prevailed 3-2 and qualified to represent the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference at this year's Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AA tournament. "The game was excellent," said Raiders coach Justin Yantho, whose team also played Assumption to a 0-0 draw in league play. "It was just two really good teams in really good, close games." Daniela Cardillo, Jaime Bon and Rachel Culver scored in the shootout for Aquinas. Marisa Parsons delivered the tying goal in regulation after Assumption's Jelisa Joncas opened the scoring in the second half. The Raiders -- who have won one girls' soccer gold and two silver over the last 15 years -- are seeded 11th at this week's OFSAA tournament in Collingwood, but that ranking is based on GHAC's recent lack of success at OFSAA. "I think as a team, our expectation is to be competing for medals," Yantho said. At the very least, the Raiders can gain some valuable experience for next year. Nine members of this season's team are in Grade 10. Aquinas boys' OFSAA streak ends The Raiders' recent success at boys' soccer provincials earned their conference a higher seeding at this year's OFSAA AA tournament. In a cruel twist of irony for Aquinas, it will be Burlington's Assumption Crusaders who reap the dividends. Assumption blanked the Raid- High school soccer ers 1-0 in Thursday's Halton senior A/AA final at North Park, ending Aquinas's five-year streak of qualifying for OFSAA. Assumption will be seeded eighth in the 20-team field at provincials this week in Leamington. "This year, we just couldn't get momentum going. We were always in tight games and carried the play. But goal scoring... without it, I don't think you can win," said dejected Raiders coach Jorge Oliveira. "We're capable of a little bit better... We finally did ourselves a huge favour in getting seeded (at OFSAA) and getting an easier draw. This was the most important game of the year to win." Assumption's Samuel Martinez scored the only goal of Thursday's game, tallying near the 15-minute mark. The Raiders controlled much of the play the rest of the way but Crusaders goalie Cody MacPhail turned them away each time. Aquinas appeared to tie the game midway through the second half but the marker was disallowed because of an offside call, which Oliveira conceded was likely the correct ruling. "Both teams were evenly matched. It just came down to who broke away for that one little play. We got that play today," said Assumption coach Mark Di Cicco. Two other schools at provincials Loyola and King's Christian will also represent Oakville at OFSAA soccer tournament this week. Loyola earned its trip to AAA boys' provincials in North Bay with a 3-0 victory over Hamilton's St. Mary in Thursday's GHAC semifinal. The Hawks then lost Friday's GHAC title game 5-0 to the Corpus Christi Longhorns, who Loyola beat 2-1 in the Halton final earlier in the week. GHAC has two berths at OFSAA. King's will compete in the A girls' tournament in Windsor. The Cavaliers went 4-2 against A/AA competition during the regular season, finishing ahead of fellow A schools Aldershot and Acton. Dawson named MVP of NLL final The National Lacrosse League final is a two-game series, but Oakville's Dan Dawson only needed one to capture the MVP award. After missing the final's opening contest due to an upper-body injury suffered in the semifinals, Dawson returned Saturday to lead the Rochester Knighthawks to their league-record third straight Champion's Cup. Rochester, which lost the series-opening game 10-7 the previous weekend in Calgary, defeated the Roughnecks 16-10 in Game 2, then won a tie-breaking minigame 3-2 in front of 9,188 fans at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena. Dawson led all scorers in Game 2 with seven points (three goals, four assists), and drew an assist on the title-clinching goal in the tie-breaker. "It was obviously hard for me to watch the game in Calgary last week," Dawson told the NLL 's official website. "But it also puts things in perspective and makes you appreciate the little things in life that can be taken away from you real easily." Dawson's younger brother, Paul, also scored for Rochester Saturday -- the defenceman's second point in two games afer earning five points in his first 22 games of the season. He also scooped up seven loose balls in Game 2 and added two more in the tie-breaker. Oakville's Dan MacRae, a defenceman for the Roughnecks, recorded an assist in the series opener, when he chased down seven loose balls. Blakelock sending seven to track and field provincials T.A. Blakelock athletes followed up a strong showing at the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference high school track-and-field championships with another at last week's south regional meet in Mississauga. Five Blakelock students qualified for this week's Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships in multiple events by posting top-four finishes at regionals. They'll be joined at provincials by two other Tigers, further illustrating the depth that earned Blakelock the overall team championship at the GHAC meet. Blakelock coach Pam Bovey said Holy Trinity's Matt Creelman was one of the GHAC track and field title was four local runners to win events at region- the Tigers' first since she began als. | Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver teaching at the school in 1998. "It's been a wonderful asset to have a track we can train on," said Bovey, referring to recent upgrades made to the school's outdoor facilities. "And we have a nice balance. We have a lot of club athletes who have been successful and work hard. Sometimes, when you have a good year, it attracts more people to come out and try it." Taja McLean (second at regionals in both the midget girls' 100-metre and 200m races), Brandon Tyrrell (second in senior boys' 200m, third in 100m), Zaria Armstrong (second in junior girls' 100m, fourth in 200m), Kaleigh Jeffrey (second in junior girls' 300m, fourth in 80m hurdles) and Julia Scott (third in junior girls' high see OFSAA on p.12