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CO H h'H O CN vH vH CO Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, knagel@burlingtonpost.com Sports "Connected to your Community" < >; CD o Q C LU LU Claire Mills takes hom e silver m edal in W omen's Lacrosse World Cup < o she told her. "Let the veterans take E o q By Herb Garbutt care of that. Be the best cutter, the c Oakville Beaver staff o hardest worker. Do the sim ple -t-- 1 CD things that m ake it possible for the sz Claire Mills knew her playing time CD veterans to do their thing." q w ould be limited. The tip helped Mills settle in. Though she played a central role c Over the next week she followed on her Oakville Lady H awks teams, her job here w ould be to support Dowd's advice, helping Canada go 6-1, including an 8-6 overtime win the team's veterans and play som e over Australia that sent Canada m inutes to give them a bit of a rest. The 17-year-old was OK with into the gold-m edal game. The opponent in the final was the that. Half of her teammates had United States, winners of nine of already graduated college; a couple 11 World Cups. The of them were playing Americans built an lacrosse before she 8-1 lead and though w as born. Canada rallied with Mills was thrilled three straight goals to be part of the in the second half, Canadian team, her it couldn't overcome first opportunity to the deficit in a 10-5 represent her coun loss, taking home try, to learn from the silver, matching more experienced the team's best fin players. ish. Right up until the Mills didn't have point coach Scott to wait long for her Teeter called her second taste of inter nam e during the Claire Mills Canadian field lacrosse player national experience. opening gam e of the After two days off W omen's Lacrosse World Cup. Suddenly the realiza following the World Cup, the Ca tion hit her that she was about to nadian team travelled to Poland as take the field against som e of the wom en's lacrosse m ade its debut at the World Games, an Olympicbest players in the world. "I w as terrified. Getting that first style event for non-Olympic sports. With Canada carrying a sm aller chance to play, you can't really pre roster for the tournament, Mills pare for that," Mills said. "I was and other young players got their terrified, but also excited. To have that experience was beyond any chance to shine. Fifteen m inutes into the opening thing I could have im agined." gam e against Australia, Mills got W hen Mills came off the field, her chance. She cut toward the net, assistant coach Karina Dowd gave took a pass from Holly Lloyd and her som e advice. "You don't have to worry about fired a shot on net. "I was shocked at first," she said. being the best player out there," ill Guildford a To have that experience was beyond anything I could have imagined. »» Oakville's Claire Mills (centre) celebrates Canada's semifinal overtime win over Australia with teammates Allison Daley (left) and Danita Stroup (right) at the Women's Lacrosse World Cup in England. Canada earned a silver medal after losing to the United States in the final. Canada also earned a silver medal at the World Games in Poland the following week. | Ady Kerry - Special to the Oakville Beaver "It was like, `Oh my god, it's in the net.' Everyone was cheering. It m eant a lot how m uch my team m ates were behind m e." M ills w ou ld ad d a goal and assist in an 18-5 C anada w in again st Ja p a n and two goals in her team 's 14-8 victory over A u s tralia in the sem ifin als to set up a gold-m edal rem atch w ith the A m ericans. The World Gam es featured nineon-nine com petition on a sm aller field instead of the usual 12 per side, which Mills said m ade it a little m ore like box lacrosse. That w orked in the Canadians' favour as they ju m p ed out to a 2-0 lead. The teams were tied 6-6 in the second half until the U.S. scored four straight and held off a late rally for an 11-8 win. Despite Canada falling to the Americans again, Mills said the two international tournaments will help her in the future. "I'm grateful for the opportu nity," she said. "Ju st being able to watch the veterans and how they conduct themselves on the field, I think it will m ake me a m uch bet ter player." Mills will put w hat she's learned into practice over the next couple o f years, as she looks forward to more opportunities. She'll return to The Hill Academy for Grade 12 this year before heading to Syra cuse University. She will also be eligible for the under-19 W omen's World Lacrosse Cham pionship, which will be held in Peterborough in 2019. Having com peted against the best in the w orld on the Canadian senior team, it's a good bet Mills has yet to see her last international competition. Lakeshore Woods DENTAL CARE 3420 Rebecca Street, Oakville www.lakeshorewoodsdental.com 905. 469.6072 4 family dentistry 4 teeth whitening 4 emergency care 4 digital xrays 4 we love ($ [& / Southeast corner of Rebecca and Great Lakes Blvd.