Lady Lancers Win SWOSSAA Final, Head To OFSAA

The UCC Lancers are sending their second girls team of the winter season to OFSAA after the UCC girls hockey team defeated the Windsor St. Anne Saints 3-2 Wednesday in Chatham.

“I thought we played a strong game against a very good team from St.Anne’s,” said UCC head coach Brad Twigg. They (St. Anne’s) had a lot of team speed and I was concerned how we would match up against it on the big ice surface at Thames Campus, but our girls did a great job keeping them to the outside so they had to play the game from the perimeter instead of attacking us from the middle where they could do a lot of damage.”

Lauren Nicholson and Sydnee Baker, who have both been key contributors for the Lancers this season, each scored a goal and added an assist Wednesday. Kerri Carneiro had the other UCC goal, while assists in the game went to Baker, Nicholson, Katreena Whiteye, Hannah McEachran, Krisinda Wegrzyn, and Riley Vanderydt. Sydney Authier was the winning goaltender in net for the Lancers.

The Lancers received balanced scoring from their lineup throughout the season, and contributions from a number of players, which Twigg says was again a key to their success over St. Anne.

“It was a complete team effort, and everyone chipped in in some capacity. We are a team that is not selfish in a sense that we don’t care who scores or who gets more ice time, but just as long as the team works together to get the job done.”

After competing in OFSAA last year, and returning 12 players from that team, the UCC Lancers are now eying

“We are returning twelve players who made the trip to OFSAA last year, so I am hoping their experience at the tournament will rub off on our grade nine freshmen and it will lead to some wins,” said Twigg. “The girls realize what they have accomplished is a big deal in qualifying for OFSAA, but I think because we were there last year they are looking to improve our team record at the tournament this year and hopefully contend for a medal.”

The Kent and SWOSSAA champions will now travel to the OFSAA ‘AAA-AAAA’ championships in Sudbury, which take place from March 18-21.