The Lake City Falcons became bronze medalists for the second time this year when they competed at the B.C. High School Girls Rugby Championships in North Vancouver last weekend.
In April, the team brought home bronze from the seven-a-side provincials. Now, they can add a 15-a-side third-place result to their resumes, capping off one of the most successful seasons in lakecity high school rugby history.
The Falcons doubled Shawnigan Lake, 10-5, in the bronze medal match at the championships. Head coach Morley Wilson said Grade 12s Tasha Johnson and Anna Bracewell provided leadership allowing them to pull off the victory, while Grade 11s Emma Pfleiderer, Laura Pfleiderer, Carleigh Walters and Skye Forcier all played tremendously throughout the weekend.
Grade 10s Gina Davis at fullback and Carrie Lange at outside centre and prop added much needed depth, he said, with Grade 9 Emma Feldinger providing an impressive showing.
Following the tournament Bracewell was named to the President’s 15 — recognized for her tenacious defence and intimidating offensive play, Wilson said.
Lake City, who entered the tournament as the No. 3 ‘AA’ seed in the province, laid a 51-0 punishing on Houston (No. 6), to open the championships.
“We dominated in both possession and territory control throughout the game,” Wilson said, noting Feldinger, Johnson, Bracewell (2), Emma, Laura (2), Madison Blusson and Vittoria Durfeld scored tries in the contest.
Next up was a semifinal rematch with Abbotsford from April’s seven-a-side provincials.
“This is the same team that beat us 7-5 last month at sevens,” Wilson said. “Abbotsford started out strong with a lot of pressure on our defence, but at the 10-minute-mark Tasha ripped a ball out of an opponent’s hands and sprinted 90 metres to score between the pipes.”
Both teams would trade tries throughout the match, before Abbotsford squeaked out a 17-12 win with just a few minutes remaining.
“It was one of the most physical games of the entire tournament,” Wilson said. “The last 15 minutes [we] applied most of the pressure but could not score.”
In the bronze-medal game Laura, the team’s scrum half, opened the scoring for Lake City, before setting up her sister, Emma, for a try. Shawnigan added a try in the second half, but the Falcons held on for the win.
“Shawnigan Lake has a long history of excellence in the game of rugby,” Wilson said. “As a private school they have players from all over the world.
“There was lots of physical play in the last 15 minutes by both teams.”
Also of note, both Bracewell and Johnson have been named to the B.C. under-19 team and will be representing the province this summer in Saskatchewan.