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Sports Oakville Beaver 31 · Thursday, October 25, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-632-0588 (ext. 294) email sports@oakvillebeaver.com We meet again FIRST RACES OF SEASON: Ahmed Elmarsafawi plows through the water of the Iroquois Ridge Pool last weekend during Oakville Aquatic Club's first competitive meet of the new swimming season. Results from the meet will appear in a future edition of the Beaver. ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @HALTON_PHOTOG Enjoyable season ends for Loyola girls By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF When the final whistle blew Tuesday afternoon, the Loyola Hawks couldn't help but be disappointed. It wasn't that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had beaten them 2-0 to repeat as Halton junior girls' Tier 1 field hockey champions. Instead, it was because it would be another 10 months before the Hawks' next game. "Even if they won today, they would have been disappointed, just because their season was over," said Loyola coach Amanda Treacy. While many of the Hawks were first-time field hockey players, their enthusiasm for the game made up for what they may have lacked in experience. "They've been so committed," said Amy Cornell, who coaches the team with Treacy. "They've been out there every morning at 7 a.m. and they would still be out there if we had more games." The Hawks managed to wring out as much field NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @HALTON_PHOTOG hockey as they could this fall. Despite a 6-1-1 JUNIOR FINAL: Carling Gould of the Loyola Hawks (in white) fends off a Notre record in the regular season, Loyola was by no Dame Fighting Irish opponent Tuesday at Bronte Athletic Field. Loyola fell 2-0 to the Irish means a favourite to even reach the final day of the campaign. The Hawks had to play two teams that in the Halton junior girls' field hockey Tier 1 final. had combined to lose just one game this season. The Hawks opened the playoffs with a 1-0 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas and then pulled off a major upset by beating Burlington Central, which came into the game with a perfect 8-0 record and had allowed only two goals all season. Central was unable to get anything past Grade 9 netminder Jenna Culumovic and Jade Thompson scored the game's only goal to send Loyola to the final. "I think they just wanted to play one more game," said Treacy, a Notre Dame graduate who faced her former school in the final. The Irish took the lead 10 minutes into Tuesday's contest and added an insurance goal midway through the second half. Loyola put pressure on Notre Dame but couldn't find the back of the net. Still, Treacy was impressed with how far the Hawks had come. "A lot of them are new to the game, and usually when you start playing, it's a very individual game. Very quickly, they started playing together as a team -- passing, moving the ball around -- instead of playing as individuals." -- Herb Garbutt can be followed on Twitter @Herbgarbutt