36 Sports Oakville Beaver By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR 2007 United W of Oakville Campaign Way Total amount raised OUR GOAL $ 20% 0 2.25 million United Way For more info: 905-845-5571 : 7 SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2007 Trinity juniors repeat as Halton champs With the Holy Trinity Titans nursing a three-point lead over Notre Dame after three quarters of yesterday's Halton junior girls' basketball final, Trinity coach John Beraldo challenged his players. "He told us it was our time. If we really wanted it, we'd show it," said the Titans' Olivia Wozniak. "And we did." They did indeed. The Titans blitzed the Fighting Irish in the final eight minutes, holding Notre Dame scoreless and pouring in 18 points of their own to cruise to a 46-25 win, clinching their second regional junior title in as many years. Trinity's 18-0 run came after Notre Dame had narrowed the score to 28-25 with back-to-back three-pointers from guard Jess Scowen. The Titans cranked up their defence in the fourth quarter, forcing several turnovers and making good on their counterattacks to put the game out of reach. "It appears that when we go on a run, it's contagious," Beraldo said. "The kids just go. We've got some excellent ball-handlers and we run a pattern fast break. The girls know which lanes they're supposed to be in." Trinity's Amanda Perrotta, who led all scorers with 18 points, added, "If we're really intense in one area, like defence, we just carry that into our offence." The victory concluded a 32-1 season for the Titans, whose lone loss this year came in one-point fashion against Hamilton powerhouse St. Thomas More in a tournament final. Trinity would beat More later in the year, part of its four tournament wins. It was also the Titans' fourth win over the Irish in as many meetings, although Notre Dame kept things close in one of their clashes (a one-point defeat in tournament play) and was within striking distance after three quarters again in the Halton final. "The game was much tighter than the score," said Irish coach Brian Miller, who was assisted by Jen Scully. "Our girls played extremely well." Jess Boelhower paced the Notre Dame attack with eight CELEBRATE: Amanda Perrotta (left) and Olivia Wozniak hoist the Halton junior girls' basketball championship trophy after leading the Holy Trinity Titans to a 46-25 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Sheridan College. Perrotta led all scorers with 18 points. LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER Stefan Legein Legein signs NHL contract Former Holy Trinity student Stefan Legein has signed an NHL entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 18-year-old, coming off a 43-goal season with the Mississauga IceDogs last year, was the Blue Jackets' second-round choice (37th overall) in this year's NHL entry draft. Terms of the three-year contract were not disclosed. Over the past 12 months, Legein has played in the Canadian Hockey League's Top Prospects Game, the Ontario Hockey League's All-Star Game and the eightgame Super Series that pitted Canada's top juniors against a Russian squad. So far this year with the Niagara IceDogs, Legein has notched 16 goals and 10 assists in 17 games. points. Michelle Sankey and Scowen both netted six, and Lianne DiPaolo added five. For the Titans, Emily Inch (eight points), Wozniak (six), Amanda Swinhoe (four), Kristin Sprukulis (four), Laura Mooney (two) and Paula Simas (two) supplemented Perrotta's scoring effort. "Inch hit a couple of shots that were big. Amanda Swinhoe came in with incredible poise and did a good job," said Beraldo. "And a girl we cut last year (Mooney) worked hard in the off-season and came back and was a real contributor this year. These girls played as a team." Dawson off to Portland Dan Dawson will be plying his trade in a different city when the National Lacrosse League season opens next month. The 25-year-old forward, who ranked third in the NLL last season with 47 goals, was picked first overall by the Portland Lumberjax in the league's dispersal draft this week. Dawson's former team, the Arizona Sting, opted not to participate in league play this season, but has retained the right to claim back its dispersed players for the 2009 season. The upcoming NLL campaign was initially cancelled by commissioner Jim Jennings because of labour unrest. However, the league announced Oct. 25 that it had reached a new collective bargaining agreement with the Professional Lacrosse Players Association and that it would have a season in 2008. The NLL season is scheduled to begin Dec. 29. Field hockey star O'Hara leads U of T to CIS championship By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF HERB GARBUTT / OAKVILLE BEAVER FINAL ACTION: Oakville's Cailie O'Hara (12) of the University of Toronto Blues hits the ball out of midair while Guelph's Katelyn Peer defends during Sunday's CIS field hockey final. fter a season in which she was head and shoulders above the competition, Cailie O'Hara ended it right in the middle of the action. In a year that she led the country in goals, it turned out that an assist was her biggest play of the campaign. And in a year that O'Hara traveled more than she ever had before, the biggest thrill came on her home field. Last weekend, O'Hara helped the University of Toronto Blues win the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) field hockey championship, capping a dream season for the 21year-old Oakville native. With the Blues and the Guelph Gryphons playing in sudden-death overtime of the national championship game, the fourth-year forward took a pass from University of Toronto teammate Shannon Treacy and relayed it to Amanda Treacy, whose one-timer beat Guelph goalie Jaclyn Butterworth. "It was...." O'Hara said, pausing as she searched for how best to illustrate the emotion of winning gold after three consecutive CIS bronze medals, then conceding. "Words can't describe what it was like when I saw that go in." Her U of T teammates didn't need words to tell O'Hara A See Clarke page 37