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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2008 23 Aquinas leads pack of Sr. teams narrowing gap in field hockey Raiders hand OT Red Devils rare regular-season loss Could this be the year? That's been the question for years. Could it be the finally be the year that someone breaks the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils' grip on Halton high school senior girls' field hockey? The two superpowers have faced each other in the last nine Halton finals and each opened the season with five straight shutout victories. But the other contenders are not about to order a bunch of big foam fingers that proclaim, `We're No. 3!' just yet. Leading the way are the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders. The Raiders, who showed signs of breaking through last season, arrived on Wednesday as they upset OT 1-0 at a two-game mini-tournament. Aquinas had tied OT 2-2 last season to cap an undefeated 5-0-4 campaign. It was the first time the Red Devils had surrendered a goal in a regular-season game in more than three years, and OT needed a late goal to earn the draw. "It gave us the confidence to know we could do it," said Brittany Russo, who scored the winning goal Wednesday. "It felt good to actually do it this time." Despite losing two of its strongest players -- Taylor Metcalfe, hockey, and Cassy Russo, soccer, accepted scholarships -- the Raiders are striving to be equally effective at both ends of the field. They scored just 14 goals last season, but in one pre-season tournament they scored 16 goals in four games. "Player for player, we're more of an evenkeeled team this year," said Aquinas coach Jean Major. Laura Tavares' strong stickhandling ability allows Aquinas to move the ball effectively and set up the likes of returnees Krista Michie and Brittany Russo. Megan Elliott, a first-year senior, is effective in midfield breaking up opposing rushes and sending the ball deep into the opposition's end. One loss is not enough to make OT concede its spot at the top, although the Red Devils realize it will be tougher to make the final than ever before. "We have a good team. We have a young team and an inexperienced team, really," said OT coach Jim Groen, who has just five returning players and lost two provincial-level players from last year's team. Still, OT has a strong core that includes Jessica Bryce, Stephanie Strome and Annika Rinas, who won two junior titles before joining the senior squad last year. But Groen realizes other teams have improved. "The competition this year, we have a lot of good teams," he said. "The competition on the Oakville side, the Volpe (Division), is very tough." Although OT had outscored its opponents 20-0 in beginning the season 5-0, Groen and his team had taken advance note of Wednesday's mini-tournament where they faced Aquinas as well as Nelson, which won last year's junior title. "We knew all along from when the schedule came out that it would be a tough day for us," said Groen, whose team tied Nelson 0-0 in the second game. The Red Devils have played a part in the other teams improving by setting a high standard for their rivals. "Just knowing we were the first ones to score on (OT), and we did it twice, for sure, we just want to practice hard and try to beat them this year," Tavares said prior to the Raiders' game against OT. "That's what everyone wants to do." Trinity also sharp Another Oakville team looking to give the Halton final a new look is the Holy Trinity Titans, who played Aquinas to a 0-0 tie Monday. After a 4-0 loss to Nelson in the season-opener, Trinity did not allow a goal in its next four games, improving to 3-1-1. "We've beat teams 4-0 but this was our best game," said Trinity coach Vesna Brnadic after the tie with Aquinas. Alyssa Ricci, Alex Simpson, Julie Maheu and Lauren Prolas lead the offence while goalie Kristen Bidulka posted four consecutive shutouts. "We're hoping this is the season," Brnadic said. So is everyone but OT and Notre Dame. LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER EQUIPMENT DRIVE: The Minor Oaks Hockey Association has launched a sports equipment drive to donate gently-used equipment to the Metis Nation of Ontario and other charities. Pictured with some of the equipment collected thus far are (front, left to right) MOHA players Caden Ouellette and Cole Ouellette, (back, left to right) Metis Nation of Ontario representative Stephanie Cruise, MOHA representative Lisa Garrie and Acura Oakville representative Chris Thompson. Equipment can be dropped off at Accura Oakville, located at 1525 North Service Rd. W. MOHA holding equipment drive The Minor Oaks Hockey Association (MOHA) is asking its members and the general public to dig deep into their basements and garages to find gently-used sports equipment they can donate to the Metis Nation of Ontario. Metis Nation of Ontario will distribute the equipment to children in need across the province. The majority of equipment will go to Metis families, though some will also go to non-aboriginal charities within the GTA. The drive began this past week and will conclude Oct. 18. Equipment can be dropped off at See Equipment page 24