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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, February 19, 2016 | 22 Kevin Nagel Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports and even though it's an individual sports, some things transfer over (to soccer)," she said. "You have to stay calm under pressure." Mitchell has had plenty of opportunity to put that to the test. She helped her Oakville Soccer Club team win the League Cup to earn a spot in the Ontario Youth Soccer League. She also scored in a shootout to help the Notre Dame Fighting Irish win the provincial high school championship in June. Now she'll look to bring the "Connected to your Community" Defender Mitchell signs with Ursuline C. after soccer success in Oakville, Burlington Sarah Mitchell says her best quality on the soccer pitch is an ability to remain even-keeled, no matter how good or bad things are going. But it's a skill she developed on another field of play. "I played tennis growing up same success to Ursuline College after signing a letter of intent to play for the school, located just outside of Cleveland. "She's a great team motivator. Her and Anya (Miller) pick up the team when we need it," said Mabel Dunn, her Oakville Soccer Club teammate. "She communicates very well." Mitchell and Miller will continue to give their team a lift. Miller, her defence partner with Oakville, has also committed to Ursuline. Van Beilen's five medals help UBC win Canada West swimming title Oakville's Tera van Beilen won five medals, including a pair of golds, helping the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds claim the Canada West swimming title. The fifth-year kinesiology student won the 200-metre breaststroke by more than three seconds, finishing in two minutes, 22.45 seconds. The 2012 Olympian claimed her other gold as a member of the Thunderbirds' 4x200m freestyle relay, along with Erika Seltenreich-Holson, Maia Brundage and Rebecca Terejko. UBC's time of 8:01.71 was 21 seconds better than its nearest rival. Van Beilen also earned silver medals in the 400m individual medley and 100m breaststroke. In both races, a teammate set a Canada West record to take the gold. She also won a bronze medal in the 50m breaststroke. Oakville's Connor Wilkins won a bronze medal in the men's 200m butterfly. UBC swept both the men's and women's titles. m e e t n a m e d a f t e r E r i k a Curler Erika Brown rethinks retirement after ninth U.S. title By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Alpine ski community unites in memory of Erika Lamb The Milton Heights Racing Club (MHRC) is honouring the memory of fellow racer Erika Lamb by hosting the Erika Lamb Snowflake invitational dual slalom race and event on Saturday, Feb. 27, at Glen Eden in Milton. Lamb, 16, died on March 11, 2015, after sustaining injuries in a skiing accident at Blue Mountain in Collingwood. The Burlington resident attended Oakville's King's Christian Collegiate. "Erika was an outstanding ski racer who was very passionate about her sport," said MHRC head coach Sarah Edwards. "Erika was a true inspiration to all who had the privilege to know her. She was an excellent skier who was beloved by her teammates and coaches. "This event is a wonderful opportunity for our club to honour the memory of Erika. Racers are encouraged to wear bright colours -- Erika's favourite colour was yellow -- and enjoy the day in honour of her spirit and love of skiing." Erika Lamb (above) was an avid skier and racer with the MIlton Heights Racing Club. Lamb died last March after sustaining injuries in a skiing accident. | photo submitted Oakville's Tera van Beilen won five medals at the Canada West meet. -- Nikki Wesley file photo Snowflake Fund MHRC has established the Erika Lamb Snowflake Fund to support, honour and celebrate Erika's spirit, and the love and inspiration she found in skiing. This fund will be used to inspire other young racers by improving access to ski and snowboard programs. MHRC is located at Glen Eden Ski and Snowboard Centre. MHRC is a not-for-profit organization that provides the opportunity for athletes to raise their alpine ski, snowboard and freestyle racing skills to a higher level of excellence. As members of Alpine Ontario South Division, the Association of Ontario Snowboarders and The Canadian Freestyle Skiing Organization, MHRC forms the grassroots of the Canadian Alpine Ski, Snowboard and Freestyle teams. For registration details go to miltonheights. com. Erika Brown keeps finding ways to make winning a national title a unique experience. And that can't be an easy feat considering the Oakville curler now has nine of them to her credit. Returning to the USA Curling National Championships with a completely different team than last year, Brown defended her title with an 8-6 extra-end victory over Nina Roth in Jacksonville, Fla. last Friday. The veteran rink, including Allison Pottinger, Natalie Nicholson and Nicole Joraanstad, now has a combined 37 national titles. That's a far cry from a year earlier, when each of Brown's three teammates earned their first U.S. championship. "It was completely different," the Madison, Wisc. native said. "The objective both years was to win, but last year you're trying to lead and be a mentor and see how far you can get. It was really thrilling to win, but this year I wasn't even sure I would be playing." Brown had talked about joining forces with her current team after the Sochi Olympics when the rest of her team retired. While the Pottinger-skipped rink elected to take a year off, the 43-year-old skip assembled her team of 20-somethings and kept playing. As this season approached, talk of joining forces with the team she beat in the final of the Olympic trials were renewed. "Natalie caught the bug again and wasn't quite ready to quit," Brown said. "With this group, we knew we had a chance to be something special." That's exactly what it's been. The team has performed so well this season that based on season-long point standings the rink had locked up being the U.S. representative at worlds just by making the semifinals at nationals. And while that was certainly one of the goals, going to worlds following a loss would have seemed like a hollow victory. Brown sees the merits of rewarding a team for its play throughout the entire season, but also believes the national champion should be the country's representative at worlds. "We've been on both sides of it. We won (nationals) last year, but didn't get to go to worlds and that's a terrible feeling," she said. "I see both sides of it. I think the only way to feel really good about it is to win see Brown on p. 23