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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 25 | Friday, June 5, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Matheson still plans to play in World Cup by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils players swarm an Ottawa's St. Peter ballcarrier during Wednesday's provincial high school girls' rugby AAA/AAAA final in Brampton. OT scored a try with four minutes remaining in regulation time to earn a 22-17 victory and its second OFSAA girls' rugby gold in four years. A photo of the Red Devils team can be viewed online at bit.ly/1QtMTyq. | photo by Eric Riehl -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog OT wins second girls' rugby gold in four years by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor This time, Abbey Henley would not be taken down. Wednesday in Brampton, for the second straight year, the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils fullback found herself in position to score the go-ahead try late in the final minuates of the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations girls' rugby AAA/ AAAA championship game. Henley broke to the outside of the field and fended off a couple of would-be tacklers on a 45-metre run to the goal line. The tie-breaking try came with four minutes remaining in regulation time and stood up as the winning points as OT claimed its second provincial girls' rugby gold in four years with a 22-17 victory over Ottawa's St. Peter. Henley later admitted to having flashbacks to last year's OFSAA final, when she was stopped just shy of the end zone in the dying seconds of a 6-5 loss to Brantford Collegiate. "(Wednesday's winner) was the redemption of what happened last year for me," said the Grade 12 student. "There was a girl who tugged on my shirt, and I was scared it would happen again, so I just kept running harder. "It was an unbelievable feeling to know that was the thing that helped us succeed. But overall, it was a team try." Taylor Black -- a Grade 9 student -- scored two tries earlier in the game for OT, which trailed 7-0 early, then held leads of 12-7 and 17-12 before St. Peter rallied to tie the game each time. Sadie Stephenson had OT's other try, and Mikela Lehan kicked a convert. "It's unreal. I've been waiting for this for three years, and the fact that it's actually happened is out of this world right now," said Stephenson, an inside centreback. "It's different (from last year), but along the same lines. What we do here at OT is try to create a connection with the team first to work well on the field, and basically that was our main goal (this season), to create that same connection. That's how we got that far last year, and this time we took it a little further. "Losing with the family is fun, but winning with the family is even better." That Red Devils family survived a difficult challenge Monday in the opening game of the tournament, when top-seeded OT needed penalty kicks to edge Sir Oliver Mowat -- the lowest seed at OFSAA -- and avoid elimination from medal contention. OT gained momentum from there, routing Blessed Cardinal Newman 34-14 in the second round and then blanking fourthranked Anrprior 24-0 in Tuesday's semifinal. Red Devils head coach Dan Valley said, in hindsight, winning the first game by a narrow margin instead of a blowout was a very good thing for his squad. Eight man Theresa Fang agreed. "After that first game, when we were so close to being out, we regrouped and realized we had to be there for each other and show everyone our sense of family is what gets us through see Coaching on p.26 Since breaking her right foot earlier this year, Diana Matheson has been adamant that she'd be on the field for Canada at some point during the FIFA Women's World Cup. Two days before Canada was scheduled to play its first game of the tournament Saturday in Edmonton, the Oakville native still felt the same way. "We're still on track where we thought we'd be about a month ago, and that's around the knockout games somewhere to hopefully get some playing time," the 31-year-old midfielder, who has been ruled out of Canada's opening game against China, said yesterday (Thursday). Matheson said she's leaned a bit on the experience she gained prior to the 2012 Olympics, when she had to rehabilitate from knee surgery in time to compete in the Games. Not only did she play in the Olympics, she scored the dramatic goal in stoppage time that lifted Canada to bronze. "This has definitely been the toughest (recovery) mentally. With the knee and then my ACL (she broke her right foot in April while rehabilitating from a torn ACL suffered last fall), I felt I had a good buffer to get back and train and play games before the tournament," Matheson said. "This (timeline) has been a lot tighter than I'd hoped. It would have been nice to play games before I stepped into the World Cup." Despite the uncertainty of Matheson's playing status, Canadian head coach John Herdman named her to the 23-player roster two months ago. Teams have until 24 hours before their first match to substitute for players who aren't healthy, but Matheson has said all along that won't be necessary in her case. "(Herdman) was clear to me from the outset that as long as there's a chance to play, he'd keep me on the roster. That was great mentally. It took off some of the pressure, and I could just focus on recovering," she said. "This tournament means a lot to all of us. We know what this opportunity is. No one gets to play in a World Cup at home more than once, and very few get to do it once. At this point in my career, this tournament means everything. It's been a tough journey. I think when I get to that point, I'll just enjoy the moment." Canada, ranked eighth in the world, will also face New Zealand (June 11) and Netherlands (June 15) in group play. The Round of 16 begins June 20. Matheson said the team hopes to feed off the increased expectations following the 2012 Olympic bronze, not feel the pressure. "It raised awareness and expectations of the country, which I think we relish," she said. "But I think it's mostly been expectations of ourselves. We know what we've been doing and where we're at. The pressure for us will be putting a show on the field that we can be proud of and that Canadians can be proud of."