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OkillSports 30SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2011 Semifi nal-boundRed Devils earn BIG UPSET:Ross Kriel of theschool's first-ever Abbey Park Eagles (with ball) runspast a Streetsville girls' rugby medalopponent yester-day (Thursday)By Jon Kuiperijduring a second-BEAVER SPORTS EDITORround game at theprovincial high After years of knocking on the door, the Oakville school boys' rugby Trafalgar Red Devils finally got through.AAA/AAAA cham-OT won three of the four games it played at this pionships at weeks Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations Crusader Park. AAA/AAAA tournament in Thornhill to capture its first-Seventh-ranked ever provincial girls rugby medal.Abbey Park The Red Devils clinched their third-place finish with stunned second-a hard-fought 12-8 win over the Lakeshore Catholic seeded Streetsville Gators Wednesday afternoon. OT head coach Dan Valley 14-11 to advancesaid the Red Devils were extra motivated to win a medal to yesterday's for their predecessors who had come close to winning semifinals. The OFSAA medals before, only Oakville Trafalgar "Yes, this was forto suffer heartbreaking losses Red Devils also us here and now,in the playoff rounds. Last won their second years squad lost the semifi-but it was also forgame, 19-5 over nal in penalty kicks and then the ones who hadSaltfleet, to guar-fell in the bronze contest.antee that bothcome before us. Part of our talk going local teams will be The ones who hadinto our semifinal game and playing for medalsshown these girlsbronze-medal game was that, today (Friday). Theyes, this was for us here and what it takes to OFSAA bronze-now, but it was also for the compete at thismedal game isones who had come before scheduled for 1 level and what itus, Valley said. The ones p.m., followed by takes to bewho had shown these girls the gold-medal successful at this what it takes to compete at contest at 3 p.m.this level and what it takes to level.be successful at this level.MICHAEL IVANIN / Oakville Trafalgar A lot of years, in a lot of OAKVILLE BEAVERcoach Dan Valleypeoples opinions, we have been one of the top teams (at OFSAA), he added, but we just havent got the breaks there that you need to push through. Weve been on the Serratore helps Defensa to U18 crownthreshhold for so long, to see them finally get rewarded was a really, really nice feeling.By Herb Garbuttpausing. I might start to cry here. It wassible.Claire Newman and Danielle Spice scored tries for OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFFa really close team. Were all friends.The 25-22, 25-19 victory, Defensa'sOT in the win over Lakeshore Catholic, with Daniela There was no drama. Everyone loves eachfirst of the year against its rivals, wouldDeschamps adding a convert. The Red Devils made Defensa coach Rob Fernley says, with-other.be more important than it could imagineseveral late defensive stands to preserve their lead as the out a doubt, Nicolette Serratore was oneDefensa won nine straight matches,because at nationals it met its nemesisGators controlled the ball for the final 13 minutes.of the best five outside players at thedropping only a single set along the way.once again in the semifinals.(Lakeshore) had so many opportunities to put the national under-18 volleyball champion-And though Defensa was crowned nation-Provincials might have been a biggerball in and our girls just said no, not today. They were ships.al champs in Abbotsford, B.C., it may welldeal for us, said the St. Mildred'sso resilient in defending, Valley said.The problem or at least it would behave won the title a month earlier inLightbourn student. We got over thatThat big red wall was just in (the Gators) face, non-a problem on most teams is that fourWaterloo. Thats when Defensa defeatedmental block with that team and we werestop.of those five all play for Defensa. RatherDRVC to win the Ontario title. so much stronger.The win over Lakeshore came a day after the Red than squabbling about court time,We had been struggling against oneAnd that might have been just enoughDevils suffered their only loss of the tournament, 7-0 to though, Serratore and her teammatesteam (DRVC) and they always seemed toto give Defensa the edge in a close 26-24,eventual champion Applewood Heights. OT didnt allow came together for a common goal andbeat us, Serratore said. We would always28-26 victory in the national semi.a point in winning its first two games of the tourna-were rewarded when they defeated thepsyche ourselves out for certain games.Serratore was named to the tourna-ment.Bisons Volleyball Club 25-21, 25-19 toWe did some mental work (before provin-ment all-star team, an honour she alsoWith plenty of players eligible to return next season, win the Canadian U18 championship.cials) and things started clicking. Wereceived at provincials.Valley hopes OFSAA bronze is only the beginning.It made the biggest difference,were a lot more focused during the gameShes a very dynamic athlete, FernleySee Coach, page 31See Serratore, page 31Serratore said of the teams unity, beforeand we started to believe it was really pos-