BCSS 2018 AA Girls Field Hockey Championship

It’s one of the great truisms in sport – To win a championship, your best players have to be your best players on the day. Yesterday, Collingwood’s best senior field hockey players stepped to the fore and the result was a remarkable 5-0 win over the Crofton House Falcons in the BC AA Final.

Leading the way was Bronwyn Bird who set up two of the first three Collingwood goals and scored the second herself. Bronwyn made skilled CHS defenders look foolish time after time as her sublime stickhandling skills allowed her to weave her way down the park on epic runs.

Collingwood’s entire star-studded roster was brilliant yesterday, but the game may have been won by the tactical brilliance of the coaching staff. Knowing that the Falcons love to press early in games and right after halftime, the coaching staff pushed Bronwyn into the back three so she could work together with Collingwood super-defender Jamie Borthwick.

With Bronwyn and Jamie having the ball constantly on their sticks, the CHS pressure amounted to nothing and Collingwood was able to launch highly effective attacks from their own end. When the Falcons pulled off their pressure defence, then Bronwyn moved back to her usual midfield position. It was true genius by Collingwood’s coaches.

Despite the Cavs having the lion’s share of possession, the game was still tied 0-0 as halftime loomed. Suddenly, Bronwyn knocked a high Falcon’s pass out of midair and scampered ahead on a run. Using a ‘Savardian Spin-A-Rama’ move she left a CHS defender in her dust and fed the ball into the D. A scramble ensued and Seli Edstand was there to knock it into the net.

Five minutes into the second half, the Cavs scored again. This time Bronwyn sliced through the Falcon defence and hammered the ball into the net herself. Minutes later, Rachel Graham took a pass in the D and smashed it past the CHS keeper and it was 3-0. Crofton looked stunned. Collingwood-Crofton championship games have always been tense one-goal affairs, but the Falcons were suddenly down three and they knew it looked bleak.

To their credit, CHS managed to put some pressure on Collingwood and earned a series of short-corners. However, Collingwood’s defence rose to occasion led by goalie Izzy Fry who was calm and composed. Izzy played her angles perfectly and the Falcons’ shots did not trouble her at all.

With Crofton launching all-out attacks, they were prone to the counter-attack and the Cavs made them pay in the late stages of the game. A brilliant rush forward led to perfect tic-tac-toe passing as Hailey Gayda found Kaiden Stanley who fed it to Seli for her second goal of the game. Kaiden then took a pretty pass from Hailey and made it 5-0 to cap a great win for Collingwood.

The three Grade 12 co-captains, Kayleigh Garland, Rachel Graham and Liz McMullin raised the trophy and the banner as Collingwood repeated at champions. It was an amazing team effort. The depth of Collingwood’s squad was truly noticeable as fresh legs were constantly sent in by coaches Ashleigh Gold, Catherine Underwood and Sara Bruner. Congratulations to the entire team and coaching staff.