It wasn’t the gold they were seeking, but bronze will do just fine for the Confederation College women’s curling team.
Megan St. Amand’s squad battled back from a 5-3 deficit on Sunday afternoon to eke out a 7-6 win in extra ends over the Niagara Knights in the third-place match at Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Curling Championships at Port Arthur Curling Club.
More important than the medal, the win earned the Kakabeka Falls skip and her teammates – lead Katharine Roberts, second Amanda Donolovitch and third Carly Angers – a spot at next month’s Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association in London, Ont.
After the disappointment of a 7-2 semifinal loss to Seneca College earlier in the day, the redemption win felt pretty good, St. Amand said.
“It was a tough game out there,” she said. “We played really well. We stuck in and I’m really proud of the girls, the way they threw. Their attitudes, everything was awesome.”
It’s St. Amand’s third trip to nationals, a run that includes a runner-up finish in 2013, but for Angers, Donolovitch and Roberts, it’s their first chance to step on the Canadian curling stage.
That’s what’s got her most excited about the opportunity.
“It’s really exciting for all of us,” St. Amand said, adding they plan to take lessons learned in Thunder Bay this week to the CCAA championships.
“We need to work on our communication. It’s key. We did struggle with that a little bit. And we also struggled with our draw weight. If we’d gotten a couple more rocks in play we would have won our game this morning.”
The Thunderhawks raced out to a 3-1 lead after three ends, but Niagara skip Megan Droog battled back, scoring two in the fourth to tie the match and stole two more in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead.
“We got down a little bit, but we had a team meeting and picked ourselves and got right back up. We knew we could do it,” Angers said.
St. Amand’s team held steady, grabbing a pair in the sixth, her final shot finding just enough of the 12-foot to count, and once again the bronze-medal match was even.
The Thunderhawks stole the go-ahead point in the seventh, Droog drawing to the rings in the eighth to force an extra end.
St. Amand said her plan was to play a clean ninth, but when the rocks started piling up she raised her own stone behind cover into shot position and Niagara’s final shot crashed into the guards in front to end the game.
The lesson learned is to fight hard and stay on their game, Angers said.
“The teams are good and we really need to fight to win,” she said.
Seneca took the women's title, knocking off Fanshawe, whose teams took the men's and mixed championships, defeating Sault College in both finals.
