47474| O akville B eaver | T hursday,N ovem ber 8,2018 insidehalton.com REGISTER NOW AT ICESPORTS.COM/Camps Canlan Ice Sports Oakville 2300 Cornwall Road Oakville ON L6J 7T9 905.845.6989 JANUARY 2-4, 2019 OF PLAYER D EVEL OPMENT With just two players gradu- ating from the team that won a fifth straight league field hockeyfifth straight league field hockeyf championship, there were high hopes for the Appleby College Blue Dogs. But things didn't start the way they were expected as Appleby was dealt a 2-1 loss by St. John's Kilmarnock (SJK) in the regular season opener. A month later, the same two teams met in the Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario Athletic As- sociation (CISAA) final with Ap- pleby looking much more like the team they expected. Since the loss to SJK in the last week of September, Appleby had outscored its opponents 40-0 with at least seven goals in each of its wins. However, SJK would prove to be a lot stingier. Though play was evenly matched in the opening half, it was Appleby that got the only goal when Quinn Dawson scored 20 minutes into the game. The Blue Dogs took control of the game in the second half, but con- tinued to cling to the one-goal ad- vantage until Paige Waley final- ly broke through in the final minutes to extend the lead to 2-0. "I would have preferred to see a goal much earlier," said Apple- by coach Sharon Creelman, "but it made it an exciting game." Kaitlyn Tomas would record Appleby's sixth straight shutout as the Blue Dogs avenged their only loss of the season. Creelman said Imogen Govan did an outstanding job limiting SJK's chances from her centre midfield position. "She controlled the pace of the game offensively and defensive- ly," she said of the provincial team player. "Overall, we played a good team game. We were solid controlling SJK's attack, but Im- my was a difference maker for us." Though its sixth straight CI- SAA championship qualified Appleby for this week's provin- cial championships in Burling- ton, the Blue Dogs declined their spot at the beginning of the sea- son. "We have a lot of high-level hockey and soccer players and there were going to be too many scheduling conflicts (with OF- SAA)," Creelman said. "We made the decision to not go, and we knew that going in, so for us this was our big game, our champi- onship." Appleby finished in a three- way tie for first with SJK and Ridley College. All three had a 4-1 mark and had a win and a loss in their head-to-head meetings. Appleby's decisive 7-0 victory over Ridley proved to be the dif- ference as it was awarded firstference as it was awarded firstf based on the goal differential in the head-to-head games.Appleby shut out Havergal College 8-0 in the semifinals, setting up the re- match with SJK. APPLEBY COLLEGE WINS SIXTH STRAIGHT CISAA FIELD HOCKEY TITLE Appleby College won its sixth straight CISAA field hockey championship by defeating St. John's Kilmarnock 2-0. Team members are: Natasha Stanford, Gabby Duffy, Avery Bourbonnais, Chloe Saxton, Paige Waley, Jolene Watkins, Madison Cote, Immy Govan, Mackenzie Blake, Catriona Arnott, Quinn Dawson, Charlotte Craig, Katie Cranston, Maiah Thompson, Kaitlyn Tomas, Simi Ogunsola, Siofra Clarke and coaches Sharon Creelman and Kelsie Moffatt. Appleby College photo HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@metroland.com COMMUNITY