Skye Forcier
Special to the Tribune/Advisor
The Lake City Falcons senior girls rugby team took the monkey off its back Saturday, beating Heritage Park to place fifth at the B.C. High School Girls ‘AA’ Provincial Rugby Championships.
The Falcons hadn’t beaten Heritage Park the two previous years, however, head coach Morley Wilson said this year was different as the Falcons marched away with a decisive 32-10 victory in their final match of the tournament, hosted in Port Alberni.
Emma Pfleiderer, Sheridan Davis, Anne Butters and Carleigh Walters gave Lake City a comfortable cushion in the first half, before Davis and Laura capped off the scoring to close out the contest.
Tasha Johnson was named to the President’s XV following the tournament — reserved for the top 15 players — and Laura was named the game’s most valuable player.
“The best news might be that 15 of our players were identified by the various B.C. rep team selectors,” Wilson said.
Day one of the tournament Thursday saw the Falcons face Brentwood College of Vancouver Island.
“[They’re] a very strong private school program that play two to three games a week,” Wilson said.
The Falcons started with a quick try from Walters, who picked up a loose ball and ran it in 30 metres for the score.
Brentwood answered back, scoring twice, before Johnson broke through the opposition’s defence for another try to close out the half.
“Brentwood kept pounding at our defence but could not come up with a score,” Wilson said.
“At the end we came up short on the scoreboard [24-10], but not on the field. These girls are very impressive and everyone took notice … Brentwood College know they played a team from Williams Lake and, as usual, I am extremely proud of these girls.”
On day two of the tournament Lake City hammered Merritt 50-0 with tries from Carrie Lange, Davis, Butters, Laura, Johnson, Ayme Desmond, Gina Davis and Anna Bracewell.
Heading in to provincials the Falcons were seeded fifth in the province.
For Giulianna Durfeld, Kate Barnett, Butters and Davis, it was their last rugby game with the Falcons. All plan to attend the University of Victoria to play rugby.
Following the tournament Wilson confirmed Williams Lake has been selected to host the 2016 B.C. High School Girls Rugby Association ‘AA’ Provincial Championships.
“Only 103 weeks until we get to host this incredible event,” he said.
Skye Forcier is a team member with the Lake City Falcons girls rugby team.