Trent Excalibur put a huge exclamation mark on a remarkable season on Sunday, downing the Queen's Gaels 10-7 to win the 2019 OUA women's lacrosse championship. This win brings the Patterson Cup home for the second time in the past four years.
Avery Di Giorgio scored four goals to lead Excalibur past the Gaels, the defending OUA champions. Also scoring for Excalibur were Leah Michel and Maddy Campbell—two goals each—Donna Ward and Rachel Smith.
"We came out on top of them two times during the regular season, so we had that little bit of an edge but you never know what could happen in a championship game," says head coach Tori Wasson.
"Our players practiced all year to be the team that wins the fourth quarter. I told them (at the half with the score tied 5-5) that we don't have time for the fourth quarter. We've got to turn it on in the third. They listened and we were up three goals going into the fourth."
Including the championship tournament, Excalibur women's lacrosse team won 15 games this season with just one loss despite playing all of its games on the road due to a scheduling quirk.
"They are always supportive of one another," says Ms. Wasson of her players. "When things go wrong, they fix it really fast. You see a lot of teams when they get down start yelling at each other. Our team doesn't do that. They know we have to play together. It's not just one person. We're family."
Meanwhile, the 2019 OUA Women's Lacrosse Awards saw Excalibur's Sydney Venton, Emily VanDamme and Ms. Di Giorgio named First Team All-Stars while Mackenzie Robinson and Ms. Michel earned Second Team All-Star honours.
"We're really excited for them but the biggest award, what we wanted, was the gold," says Ms. Wasson, grateful for the number of Trent supporters who made the trip to Oshawa's Vaso's Field.
"What makes us go the extra mile is we know we're fighting to represent the University proudly and raise the profile of lacrosse and the Trent Excalibur brand. There are tremendous student-athletes here and we're pretty proud of them."