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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Wednesday, May 7, 2014 | 18 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" Buzz pleased with 3-1 start, but still hungry by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Natasha Morita of the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils looks to elude an Aldershot Lions tackler during Halton high school senior girls' rugby action Monday in Burlington. The Red Devils won 54-0 to improve to 5-0 in regional play. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Flashy uniforms aside, OT rugby girls mean business by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff It's a new look for the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils. Nothing drastic, mind you. Coach Dan Valley is back, as is a core group of players seeking the Red Devils' seventh straight Halton title. OT still finds a way to develop players to fill the void left by graduating players every year. The Red Devils are still among the best girls' rugby teams in the province. And their goal is still to remove `among' from that previous sentence. The new look is a more subtle change. Well, maybe not that subtle. "They're a little flashy," says Sydney Newton of the team's new red, black, white and salmon uniforms. "I don't mind the flash," says Newton's co-captain, Ellie Cookson -- a fact that's apparent from her neon green shoes. "Flashy is good." Flashy may work for the team jerseys, but if the Red Devils were to dress to match their approach to the season, they might be taking to the field wearing business suits. After winning the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations girls' rugby AAA/AAAA championship in 2012, the Red Devils returned with what they believed to be an even stronger team in 2013. But Oakville Trafalgar's bid to repeat was derailed early in the OFSAA tournament with a second-round loss in penalty kicks to eighth-seeded Bluevale. "We won gold when I was in Grade 10 and it was the most amazing feeling," said Cookson Monday afternoon after the Red Devils improved to 5-0 with a 54-0 win over Aldershot. "I think we took that for granted. We didn't play as well as we could and now we understand the consequences of not performing like we need to." That attitude comes from experience, Valley said. With a group that has experienced a provincial win and a heartbreaking loss at the OFSAA tournament, he said there's very little that can surprise them. "I don't think they're going to have that Hoosiers moment, where they're misty eyed and they walk into a stadium. There are not many situations they haven't seen." The closest OT has come was a tournament game earlier this season against Chatham's Ursuline College, a team that had a significant size advantage. "That gave us a little bit of a scare," Cookson said, "but that game showed us we can take those kind of teams." OT used its size advantage to wear down its opponents by running them sideline to sideline in a 10-0 win. The Red Devils have also beaten Quinte Secondary, a team ranked fifth in the province by Rugby Ontario. Oakville Trafalgar began the season ranked No. 1, but has since slipped to No. 2 behind Trenton. That serves as further motivation. "There's always going to be expectations and we want to live up to those," Newton said. "That first week when you're ranked No. 1, you want to uphold that." Oakville Trafalgar certainly has the skill to do so. Charlotte Dunn, Maddy Seatle and Bailey Dean helped Ontario win the national under-18 championship last year and Hannah Howden would have joined them but missed the tournament due to an injury. "When you've got four members of the provincial under-18 see Gold on p.19 Happy, but not satisfied. That's how Oakville Buzz head coach Mike Bentivegna feels about his team's 3-1 start to the Ontario Lacrosse Association junior B season. "Even at 4-0, we would not be satisfied. We're always looking to get better. We're not going to be satisfied until there's a national championship banner hanging here at the end of August," said the Buzz's first-year bench boss, who spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach of the club. "There's always work to be done." But, with seven players still away at university, it's not always easy in early May to determine what work does need to be done. Saturday's home game against the Akwesasne Indians, which the Buzz dropped 118, did provide some insights, as did a 9-8 Oakville victory the following day over the Kahnawake Hunters. Both games were played at Oakville's Toronto Rock Athletic Centre. "We have to work a little harder. In order to win the tough games, we've got to find that extra gear," said Bentivegna, who viewed the meeting with Akwesasne as a measuring stick, given the Indians' long-term history of success in the league. "And we've got to stay out of the penalty box. If we give good teams too many power plays, they're going to score goals." Akwesasne's first two goals Saturday came on the man advantage. The Indians went on to build an 8-3 lead in the second period before the Buzz rallied to score four of the game's next five markers. Akwesasne regained control of the game with a short-handed marker with 6:01 remaining in regulation time, shortly after the Buzz had missed on a breakaway opportunity. "With seven minutes left, we were down two goals and had momentum... Against Akwesasne, with a young team, that was a great position to be in," Bentivegna said. "We just didn't capitalize on it. You work all year to capitalize on it in July and August." The Buzz's `young' team will get a bit older after Victoria Day, when many of its veteran players return from university. Among the re-enforcements will be 40-goal scorers Keyan McQueen and Troy O'Donnell as well as defenders Colton Watkinson -- the team captain -- and Paul Rakoczy. see Rookie on p.19