Before this season, there had not been enough peewee-aged female lacrosse players in the Port Coquitlam Saints minor system to put together a full team.
Head coach Spencer Wren sought to change that.
Building on a foundation of players with experience in the boys’ ranks, the bench boss began a recruitment effort to bring new players into the game. Many had never picked up a stick until a few months ago and, needless to say, nobody expected much in the way of wins.
But that all changed last week, when the club trounced the competition at the Dorothy Roberts Memorial Tournament.
“Something crazy happened,” Wren said.
The club took down the New Westminster Salmonbellies 6-3 in the tourney opener on the Friday night, before defeating Tri-City rivals the Coquitlam Adanacs 6-4 on Saturday.
The Saints kept rolling on Sunday, defeating Richmond 6-2 before downing Langley 4-3. In the later game, the club was down 3-2 with four minutes left in the third before potting two quick goals to notch the victory.
Annaka Poland and Regan Butcher shared netminding duties, while Wren credited Melissa Wren, Sidney Williamson, Ava Haberstock, Lorraine Mills, Paige Douma, Chelsea Murphy and Amanda Jonson for a strong defence. Caitlyn Furtado, Hailee Harris, Marianna Szamoskozi, Alyssa Clark, Mariah Whitfield, Gillian Lapierre and Brynleigh HirdWren were all crucial in the victories.
“Those who have played the game turned into mentors,” the coach said, later adding, “we are only a couple of months deep and at the beginning some could barely hold a stick or even knew how to shift change.”
