The
March Madness tournament in Etobicoke brought together a huge gathering of teams from Ontario and Quebec to test themselves and each other at the end of the water polo season.
Watch the highlights and interviews from the
Gold Medal Game on -
St. Lambert, Quebec vs KW.
Surprisingly for our 14U Girls coach, who said that he could not remember when he had seen anything like it at this level, there were eight girls teams squaring off in two groups. All these teams together would give our
Kraken
girls some idea of where they stood at the end of the season.
The girls were anxious to get into the water and attack. First up on Friday were the Scarborough Shadow girls. Before the light dawned on the Shadow that it was the
Kraken
in the water, the score was 4-0 ... and only a little over two minutes had passed in the game! Wave after wave of our players poured into the pool to contribute to this first win, 17-5.
The confidence of all the players was on the rise, but the Tiburon team waited for our girls next, sharks in the water circling the surface. But up from the depths rose the
Kraken
! The swim up took some time, however, as the
Kraken
girls had many opportunities, but took awhile to really start scoring. By the end of it, though, our girls prevailed by a score of 13-4.
The scoring continued into the second day of the tournament as well. The Ottawa Titans tried taking on our team, but to no avail. The coaches were proud to see all the girls get into the game in different combinations, just like they had earlier in the tournament. With a score of 18-2 against Ottawa, our girls were ready to enter the semi-finals to do battle against the host team, the Mavericks.
Looking at the score after each quarter, it would seem that our
Kraken
girls were cruising to an easy victory. After one quarter it was 4-0, then 6-0 at the half. But there was an odd feeling of intensity in the crowd, on deck, and in the pool, as if the momentum could shift at any moment. The fourth quarter started with the score 6-3 after the Mavericks made some adjustments in the third. Still up, but with the Mavericks encroaching ever closer, our
Kraken
girls dug deep and defended well. After a series of stops and three pretty goals, our team stamped their tickets for the gold medal game thanks to a 9-4 victory over the Mavericks.
The last team left was St. Lambert from Quebec, who had also gone undefeated to the championship game. Quebec quickly took the lead with a goal early, but before the end of the first quarter, the game was tied. By half, thanks to great ball movement, our girls were in the lead, 3-1, which remained the score going into the fourth quarter. St. Lambert scored early again in this quarter, bringing them close. Again, like they did in their semi-final game, our team defended well, forcing St. Lambert to take some risks, like using their goalie as a playmaker from half. This left St. Lambert’s net open for a long shot to lead the
Kraken
past too far past their opponents.
KW
14U Girls finished the game 6-3 to gain gold as the March Madness champions.
Every single player on the team earned this championship. Their contributions in the pool were certainly seen by everyone watching, but their contributions on deck and in the changeroom supporting each other also played a big part, as it has all season. The coaches are happy with the talent, the tenacity, and the growth of this team this year.
Congratulations to the girls for their success in the March Madness tournament, and all the best to them as they prepared for the Provincial Championships.
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