Orillia Lady Kings capture bronze medal at provincial championship

The BMO Nesbitt Burns senior women’s lacrosse team found themselves coming home from the provincial championships with a bronze medal this weekend, wrapping up an otherwise successful 2019 lacrosse campaign. The team was hoping for gold.

Orillia would enter the tournament in Brampton as the No. 2 seed and top of the bracket that would see the Lady Kings face the Toronto Beaches and Kitchener-Waterloo Braves in pool play.

The Lady Kings would start the championships off against the always strong Toronto Beaches squad on Saturday and goaltender Emily Van Kessel would be the story behind the 10-4 victory as she played a very strong and steady game in net for the Lady Kings.

The strength throughout the season, their focus and emphasis on team defence, shone through as Morgan Vickers, Kaiti Van Kessel, Kendall Boyd and Rachel Mochulla stood strong against the high-powered Beaches' attack. Camille Vibert continued to control the majority of key draw controls as well as added a three-goal effort while Kiah Shanks and Camryn Kelly both chipped in with two goals each. Singles from Annie Lloyd, Kelsi Pritchard and Jordan Kummer were enough to power the team to victory.

Orillia would face the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves in their afternoon match and again Emily Van Kessel rose to the occasion stopping any offensive push from the Braves and allowing Orillia to have a 3-1 lead at the half. Orillia would eventually go on to win the game 9-6 and earn a semi-final bye because of finishing undefeated in their pool.

Kiah Shanks, as she has all season, was the offensive star posting a four-goal effort while Kelsi Pritchard and Camille Vibert posted two-goal efforts. Jordan Kummer would round out the goal scoring for the Lady Kings and again defensive contributions from Sarah Wood and Emily Arkell were paramount in the win.  

In pool A play, a surprising Kawartha victory over top-ranked Orangeville Northmen would force Orillia and Orangeville to meet each other in semi-final action. Prior to the start of the semi final game and Kawartha and Kitchener-Waterloo set to face each other, KW would forfeit the game, allowing Kawartha to automatically reach the gold medal game.

The semi-final game pitted the two teams that played for gold in last year's provincials and the Northmen were out to seek revenge and revenge they got as they would earn a hard fought 8-3 victory.

Knowing that KW was now out of the tournament, the loser would automatically claim the somewhat tainted bronze medal without even going on the field.

Team Canada/Orangeville goalie Kameron Halsall was the key to the Northmen victory as she literally stoned any and all attack Orillia could muster. Orangeville would hold a narrow 3-0 lead at the half and several offensive runs to start the second half for Orillia would be stalled by the heroics of Halsall.

Orillia would get it to 3-2 early in the half but frustration would settle in as the Orangeville netminder was outstanding, leading to some impatient decisions and untimely shots going wide of the mark in the Lady Kings' efforts to tie the game. Regardless, the game  was close until the end with Orangeville playing the “stall” to perfection and adding three late goals to ensure their place in the gold medal game.

Despite the frustrating circumstances, manager/coach John Pritchard is very proud of the season the Lady Kings had, posting a 8-1-1 record and finishing in second place in the league.

He is confident that their continued focus on team defence, strong goaltending and the prospects of some U19 graduates joining the team next year that getting back to the title game is well within their grasp.

The players and parents wish to thank John Mayo of BMO Nesbitt Burns for his sponsorship contribution and ongoing support of the senior program. This is the second year for the senior program to be back in competitive action and having earned a provincial gold and bronze in these two years is a testament to the Orillia Lady Kings program and its continued success. They will be back!
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