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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Tiering Up Two months after moving up to one of top high school field hockey leagues in Ontario, T.A. Blakelock reaches final by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff Sports 21 | Friday, October 30, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Kaleigh Jeffrey remembers exactly how she felt when she heard the news. "Oh, this is not going to be good," the T.A. Blakelock Tigers field hockey player thought after hearing her team would be moving up to compete in Tier 1. For the past two seasons, Blakelock had dominated the Halton high school Tier 2 league, winning back-to-back titles while posting a record of 19-0-4. Still, it was a big leap to the Tier 1 ranks, one of the province's strongest leagues, which has produced 10 provincial medallists in the past 15 years. It was a league that had been dominated by three teams who monopolized the Halton title. Going into this season, Notre Dame (seven), Oakville Trafalgar (six) and Nelson (two) had won every league title during the last decade and a half. Only one other team, Loyola, has even managed to reach the final. So Jeffrey, understandably, thought her team's chances of lifting a trophy at the end of the season were all but over before the season began. Blakelock coach Marissa Pettinato believed it was the right move, though. "We debated it for a while," she said. "We lost a lot of seniors, including our goalie, but most of this team has been together for four years. We needed a little bit of a challenge and we thought this was the right time." Tuesday, Pettinato's hunch proved correct as the Tigers came within a goal of claiming the Tier 1 title. Blakelock built a 2-0 first-half lead, and then took a 3-2 lead with four minutes to play on Jeffrey's second goal of the game. However, the Corpus Christi Longhorns -- authoring their own Cinderella story after winning just once last season and finishing tied for last in Tier 1 -- forced overtime and scored the only goal in the extra periods to win 4-3. T.A. Blakelock Tigers player Nicole Hicks (left) fires the ball by a Corpus Christi Longhorns defender during Tuesday's Halton high school field hockey senior Tier 1 championship game at Bronte Athletic Field. Corpus Christi defeated the Tigers 4-3 in overtime to win the battle of first-time Tier 1 finalists. | photo by Justin Greaves -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog We needed a little bit of a challenge and we thought this was the right time. Both teams had pulled off major semifinal upsets, the Longhorns shutting out Nelson, last year's provincial bronze medallists, 3-0, while Blakelock got an overtime goal from Katie Lynes to knock off previously undefeated Oakville Trafalgar 2-1. Blakelock looked to be on its way to another championship when it jumped out to a 2-0 lead with near-perfect execution on its short corners. First it was Torie Van Sickle sending the ball out to Lynes, who sent a return pass to her teammate. Van Sickle then passed it though the crease to Jeffrey, who redirected it into the net to open the scoring. Four minutes later, it was Van Sickle to Lynes to Nicole Hicks, who finMarissa Pettinato ished the play with a hard T.A. Blakelock coach shot. Corpus Christi got one back before the half and threatened early when play resumed, but Grade 9 goalie Adriana Steckel turned away Kylie Cameron, one of the Longhorns' most dangerous players, on a breakaway. Corpus Christi would eventually get the equalizer and as time wound down, Blakelock pressured the Longhorns. For a brief moment, it looked like Lynes might have delivered another game winner when she took a pass from Van Sickle on a short corner and fired it past the Longhorns goalie. But as the Tigers celebrated the referee waived off the goal, ruling it had not left the circle. Blakelock continued to press and were rewarded when Jeffrey scored to make it 3-2 with four minutes to play. The celebration was short lived as Corpus Christi answered back a minute later. In the second overtime period, the Longhorns' Kylie Cameron tipped a shot past Van Sickle. Blakelock swarmed the Longhorns net for the final three minutes, setting up five short corners. This time, Corpus Christi was able to hold the Tigers at bay to preserve the win. "We gave it our all," Jeffrey said. The Tigers, the only Tier 1 team without a junior program, certainly proved them- selves, finishing the season with a 5-2 record and the third-most goals in the league. Blakelock then beat the Hayden Huskies 4-1 in the quarter-finals with a pair of goals by Jeffrey and one each by Lynes and Morgana McKinney, who also scored in the semifinal win. Now, despite the loss, the Tigers can still qualify for the provincial championships by beating St. Thomas More today (Friday). "That's our ultimate goal," said Jeffrey. And while the Grade 12 student once doubted the decision to move up to Tier 1, she now believes it was the best thing that could have happened for the team. "We were comfortable. We knew we could win again if we played the same teams," she said. "But moving up to Tier 1 was worth it. We showed we could compete with the teams at the higher level. We had better competition and that made us better." Free admission to NLL pre-season games The Toronto Rock will play two of its three National Lacrosse League pre-season games in Oakville. The Rock will host the Colorado Mammoth Saturday, Dec. 12 and the Georgia Swarm Saturday Dec. 19. Both games will be 7 p.m. starts at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre. There will be no admission charge for the games. The Georgia roster includes Oakville natives Jordan MacIntosh and Alex Crepinsek as well as former Oakville Buzz players Ethan O'Connor of Milton and Patrick Corbett of Burlington.