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The Oakville Beaver, W ednesday M arch 5, 2003 - D3 Aquinas has two teams at triple-A OFSAA championships The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders, knocked out o f the quad-A provincials by powerhouse Nelson, still get a shot at some glory this week as they com pete in the triple-A provincials in Sudbury. The Ontario Federation o f School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) tour nam ent runs today (W ednesday) through to Friday. The team piled into three vans, gra ciously donated by Towne Chev Olds. The Raiders locked up the local berth in the triple-A OFSAA champi onships with a convincing 63-52 win over Lord Elgin. Ivan Chiriaev, their 7 ' 1" Russiannative. led with 23 points while Mark Prskalo added 20 and Trevor Csima 14. "Our big three accounted for 57 of the 63 points," pointed out coach Mike Johnston. In the earlier Halton sem ifinal game, Aquinas couldn't quite put it over the top, losing 61-40 to Nelson, who will represent this area in the quad-A finals. Chiriaev scored 20 points in that game to lead all scorers. "They (Nelson) are just a great team." said coach Johnston. `T hey kind of dictated the pace. We wanted to slow it down and use our size -- w e're bigger than they are. "But their guards dictated the game. And the pace was not comfortable." Aquinas hadn't seen the seeding prior to this interview but didn't expect a particularly high one. since they were a team that jelled as the sea son went along. Not hurting, of course, was the addition, after the New Year, of Chiriaev. , "Our team has improved greatly. W e're much better than from the beginning o f the year." conceded coach Johnston. He said there will be some quality teams at OFSAA like defending tripleA champion Central Commerce from Toronto and Sherwood from Hamilton. Team members include: Mathew Bak. John Burgess, David Commisso, Matt Cormack, Adam Cross. Trevor Csima. Jon Esteban. Rob Liska. Donte Luciani. Steven M eagher, Mark Prskalo, Chris Van Dongen and Ivan Chiriaev. OFSAA VOLLEYBALL As recounted earlier in the Beaver, the Halton cham pion St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders senior girls volley ball team are currently at the triple-A OFSAA championship in ChathamKent. It runs today and tomorrow (Wednesday/Thursday). Peter McCusker · O a kville B ea ver VAN-TASTIC: St. Thomas Aquinas qualified for the OFSAA triple-A provincial basketball championships in Sudbury and Gordon Albini, general manager of Towne Chev Olds, provided a fleet o f vans to get there. He is seen here, shaking the hands o f Ivan Chiariaev. For complete team roster, see story. Grade 9 Q.E. Park student leads Ontario to Canada Games silver Although only a 15-year-old Grade 9 student at Q.E. Park, Neha Kumar held down Ontario's number one spot on the U-19 provincial squash team at the Canada Games. And Kumar was instrumental in helping Ontario get into the finals against top ranked British Columbia. Unfortunately, nagging injuries prevented Kumar from answering the bell in the Canada Games champi onship against British Columbia and Ontario did go on to lose, settling for a silver medal. Also, on the team with Kumar were Radhika Ahluwalia (Miss.) at no. 2. Alisha Turner (Milton) at no. 3 and Stephanie Edmundsen (Toronto) at no. 4. The Ontario team easily won their first two matches, defeating the Yukon and Saskatchewan teams without any of the team members dropping a game. However their toughest match in the pool was against Alberta. Their player at no. 1 position, Lauren Polonich, is ranked higher than Kumar, and their no. 2 player, Paula Pearson, is ranked higher than Ahluwalia. In fact, neither Kumar who has been struggling with her injuries this season nor Radhika had taken a game off their opponents this season. The players were aware they had to beat Alberta to fin ish no. 1 in their pool to avoid playing the no. 1 seed B.C team from the other pool in the semifinals. The B.C team was almost unbeatable with three top national squad members. And a loss in the semifinals would at best give them a bronze. As expected. Turner and Edmundsen won their match es to give Ontario a 2-0 lead. Kumar then came on to play Lauren Polonich with her ankle taped. She had to take a game off Lauren to give Ontario a win and Lauren had to stop her from doing that to give Alberta a win. In the first game Kumar played brilliantly matching Lauren shot for shot but lost 9-7. But Kumar known for her mental toughness and aggressive play went on to win the match 3-2, much to the delight of her teammates. Ahluwalia lost 3-0 to Paula Pearson. In the semifinals Ontario beat Manitoba but after win ning her match against Ashley Manlenchuk 3-1 Kumar suffered from shin stress and had to default her final match against B.C. Oakville's Neha Kumar Redgales take a good run at U.S. national indoor championship The Oakville Redgales. a girls U11 AA rep soccer team, was invited to compete in the National Indoor Soccer Championship in Dublin, Ohio last month (Feb. 7-9). After winning their first two games without a great deal of effort, the girls found their Michigan opponents in the third game much more of a challenge. The Redgales were trailing 3-0 at the end o f the first half, but succeeded in bringing themselves back into the game with two goals in the second half. Despite dominating the play for the better part o f the half, the girls were unable to catch up. Their opponents went on to win the championship in the final game 9-1. The Oakville Town flag was provided by Mayor Ann Mulvale as a communi ty gesture o f 'good luck'. C o m in g M arch 15 5 th A n n u a l Dolphins take home meet title from Guelph for second year in a row The Oakville-based Dolphins Swim Club made up of 58 athletes from the Oakville and Burlington area, wrapped up their short course (25 m pool) season with a good performance at the Guelph Tim Hortons Challenge over the February 15/16 weekend. The Dolphins took home the meet championship trophy for the second year ear in a row beating out 12 other teams from across the province for the title. The win can be attributed to domi nant relays across all age groups in addition to a number of standout indi vidual efforts. Meet high point trophies were picked up by 17-year-old Laurelle Madden in the 15 & over girls division and 21 year old Craig Lund, edging out team mate Jason Rumley (15) in the 15 & over boys category. Other standout performances were turned in by Ryme Bensbih and Megan Wamsley for the 10 & under girls, Carissa Carrabetta and Graham Turner for the 11-12 girls and boys, respective ly, and Melissa Peters and Luke Kikot taking home multiple gold medals in the 13-14 girls and boys divisions. St. Patrick' s Dance Party. featuring Billy H arper Band plus a special appearance by the Goggin Irish Dancers All the fu n that you could expect from the Irish and even more A strong defence is the key in Brantford rep tournament win: Kirconnell scores 31 The Oakville Vytis novice girls swept all foiir of o f their round-robin games at the Brantford rep tournament last month. The girls and their parents then braved the severe weather and headed to Brantford for the gold medal game against Brantford CYO. Thanks to an amazing defensive effort, Vytis held off a serious second half challenge by CYO to take the gold medal. Strong defence was key throughout the weekend. Vytis' defensive game has been inspired by two o f its youngest players. Jessica Silva and Rebekah McRae. Coach Sally Fairbairn noted, "They consistently dem on strate their determination and enthusiasm on defence, and their example has caught on with our whole team. "Lately, it has been very difficult for other teams to tl break our defence. All o f the girls just w on't on't give up on the ball. Our parents have started calling them the `Green Sw arm '." Vytis proved that electrifying defence is as exciting as good offence. Amanda Swinhoe was the team 's defensive leader throughout the tournament. She led the team with aggressive defence and quick footwork, causing each o f Vytis' opponents to turn the ball over time after time. Lea Kirkconnell easily led all scorers with 31 points over the course o f the weekend. Amanda Swinhoe, Larissa Saplys and Alex Bekkers also contributed numerous points for Vytis. Tickets (at popular prices) Cash Bar $ person J Plenty of Available from JoeTopolniski D o o rP ' 905- 827-1854 T he party starts at 8 pm featuring entertainm ent by the Goggin Irish dancers. Don't be late! Plus Special! Midnight Caterers Irish Stew KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS 1 494 Wallace Rd., Oakville Kurtz' shorthanded goal proved to be tourney winner in Stoney Creek The Oakville Stingers bantam girls Hornets house league hockey team won the Stoney Creek Sweetheart tournament on the Valentine's weekend with a total team effort. Led by the scoring of Jill Kurtz, Amy Pulford, Katie McCarthy, Emily Merrick, Jackie Lapointe and Kaitlin O'Connor, the Stingers had assists from Natalie Mittler, Katrina Terry. Michele Mooyman, and Jennifer Lincz. The defence once again proved to be up to the job with stand out perform ances from Carly Kurczyk, Jamie McCarthy, Megan MacDonald, Emily Long and Kassandra Dube. When all else failed, goalie Robin Branscombe was unbeatable, stopping six breakaways and making a save with five seconds left to preserve the victory in the final game. Kurtz had a two-man shorthanded goal in the 2-1 final that proved to be the winner, while Katie McCarthy's goal with less than a minute left sent the Stingers to the champi onship game. (9 0 5 ) 82 7-1 8 54 A ll Proceeds fo r Juvenile Diabetes First win against Guelph couldn't have come at a better time - in playoff opener The Oakville East Tyke Rangers finished up the regular season on a roll, winning three and tying one of their last five regular season games. They also recently advanced to the finals of the West London Optimist Tournament, where they lost in the finals of the tour nament in a dramatic post overtime shootout. So it was on a positive note that the Tyke East Rangers opened the playoffs on the road on Saturday, February 22 in Guelph. It was the first game o f a six game round robin playoff format that also includes division rivals, Brampton and Burlington. The Rangers went into the game against the second seeded Guelph Storm as the definitive underdog, hav ing dropped three of four games to them during the regular season, managing only a single tie in their four encounters. And Guelph managed to open the scoring less than two minutes into the game. However, the Rangers buoyed by their recent successes, replied with four unanswered goals for the 4-1 opening victory. Kevin Guzzo and rearguard Greg Campbell each had a pair of goals. Assists went to Connor Stack (2) and Sydney McKibbon. To join our delivery team call 905-845-9742 You could become a carrier of the week? Winning Carriers receive a large 3 topping pizza courtesy of: Opening 4-2 win over Georgetown Raiders in the tri-country round robin playoffs The Oakville Rangers JNL International Consulting minor bantam AA rep team opened their round robin tri county playoffs with a hard fought, well deserved 4-2 com e back win over the Georgetown.Raiders who had blazed out to a 2-0 lead. Anthony Albrecht scored a pair with single markers to Cedric Soubry and Jacob Truant. Assists went to Brett West (2), Ben Bennett, Edmund Konroyd-Bolden and Anthony Albrecht. Oakville 3-Pitch League now accepting team applications for upcoming season The Oakville 3-Pitch League is now accepting team applications for the upcoming season. This is a mixed league, registered with Softball Ontario, and plays games Friday evenings and occasional Monday night games with no long weekend games. For more information, contact Peter at (905) 333-9362. O w Jb iwio's #1 Pizza,/ . T he Oakville B eaver ,