OSHAWA, Ont. - They may have had their multi-season winning-streak come to an end in 2015 but their title reign is intact as the Western Mustangs women's lacrosse team won their fifth straight Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championship with a 15-9 victory over the Brock Badgers.
Brock defeated Western 11-10 late in the regular season, ending Western's unbeaten streak that stretched back to the championship game in 2010. However, the Badgers were no match for Western on Sunday at the Oshawa Civic Fields as the Mustangs cruised to the six-goal victory.
The title is Western's sixth OUA banner, putting them behind only the Laurier Golden Hawks who have won eight championships since 1998.
Tenyka Snider, who was named the top graduating player following the championship, knew that Brock would be a tough opponent but battled through an injury to win her fifth title.
"It feels great," said Snider. "We knew that this year it was going to be really close. Brock beat us last week so we knew it was going to be a really tight game and we had a lot of good energy going into it.
"It's hard to believe that it's actually five in a row. Our team works really hard practicing everyday and doing more fitness than we would actually like, but it feels amazing that all of the hard work paid off."
Western built up a three goal lead midway through the first half, but Brock responded with three straight goals including one from Breanne Gillie with 18 seconds left on the clock to tie the game at six goals apiece.
In the second half, Western's offence would take advantage of six Badger yellow cards and go on to score nine goals, the most by any team in a half at the championship. Hemmed in their end, the Badgers were only able to score three, two of which were in the final minute of play.
Megan Wilkins led the Mustangs' offensive attack with four goals while teammates Lauren Stewart and Mikaela Harrison each recorded hat-tricks.
Brock's Sarah Simpson would pace the Badger offence with three goals.
Western goaltender Caitlin Mancuso came up with a number of big saves as she was named the player of the game. Brock's goalkeeper Mackenzie Singer also had a standout performance as she earned the honour for the Badgers.
Sunday's title game was a rematch from one year ago where Western defeated Brock 7-5.
In the bronze medal game, Queen's managed to pull out an exciting 10-8 victory over the Laurier Golden Hawks. Tied 6-6 in the second half, the Gaels managed to score four straight goals to build a sizable lead. Laurier would fight back with two goals of their own, but failed to score in the final ten minutes of the game.
Following the match, Queen's head coach Pat Bolland was named the OUA coach of the year.
Trent, who finished in fifth place with a 10-3 victory over McMaster on the final day, had a number of major award winners once the votes were tallied. Leah Ogilvie was named the offensive MVP and goaltender Denise Miller earned defensive MVP honours. Mikayla Hicks took home the rookie of the year award.
FINAL RESULTS
Gold – Western Mustangs
Silver – Brock Badgers
Bronze – Queen's Gaels
Offensive MVP
Leah Ogilvie – Trent
Defensive MVP
Denise Miller – Trent
Outstanding Graduating Senior
Tenyka Snider - Western
Rookie of the Year
Mikayla Hicks – Trent
Coach of the Year
Pat Bolland – Queen's
OUA First Team All-Stars
Attack
Torey Barfoot – Laurier
Sheehan Mulholland - Western
Leah Ogilvie – Trent
Midfielders
Melissa Holland - Toronto
Shelby O'Ryan – Queen's
Tenyka Snider – Western
Sarah Simpson - Brock
Lauren Stewart – Western
Defenders
Kendra Byers – Brock
Maddy Curtis - Laurier
Shannon O'Connor – Queen's
Goaltender
Denise Miller – Trent
OUA Second Team All-Stars
Attack
Sarah Jamieson – Toronto
Kathryn Simpson – Brock
Megan Wilkins – Western
Midfielders
Mikayla Hicks - Trent
Taylor Landry – UOIT
Taylor Milburn – UOIT
Taylor Miller – Laurier
Gwyneth Ross – Queen's
Defenders
Carly Cummings – Queen's
Jessica Demars - Guelph
Emma Ohori – McMaster
Goaltenders
Sabrina Schindel - McMaster
