Juan de Fuca’s novice girls team got a big effort when it mattered most at the Travis Bateman Memorial Lacrosse Tournament.
The West Shore girls, downed 5-3 by Burnaby in round robin action Saturday at the Juan de Fuca Arena, flipped the result in Sunday’s final, winning gold with a solid 5-1 victory over the mainland squad. Juan de Fuca reached the final with a 9-2 win over Cowichan Valley in the morning semifinal.
Victoria-Esquimalt dominated the novice A2 boys division, beating the host Whalers team 9-2 in Sunday’s final after downing Peninsula 15-1 in the morning semifinal. The Eagles went 5-0 overall at the tournament and had beaten JdF 8-3 in round robin action.
Juan de Fuca, second-place finishers in the division after posting a 2-1 record, beat Nanaimo 8-3 in an early Sunday morning semifinal game. Nanaimo went on to defeat Peninsula 7-2 for third place.
In the novice B boys division, Cowichan Valley B2 topped the 11-team field with a 7-2 win over Juan de Fuca B1 in Sunday’s championship game. The Whalers, who finished second in Red Pool play with a 2-1 record, edged the Cowichan Valley B1 team 7-6 in one semifinal, while Cowichan B2 beat Blue Pool winners Langley 9-2 in the other semi.
Juan de Fuca had three teams competing in the division.
The 14th annual tournament honours the memory of Travis Bateman, a Juan de Fuca minor lacrosse product who went on to star for the Victoria Shamrocks intermediate team, winning a provincial gold medal with them in 2002. He died in 2003 from injuries sustained in a car accident, when he was playing for JdF junior B team. The tournament was instituted the next season.
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