Facing a late deficit and a ticking clock, the Waterloo Warriors women's curling team remained focused and unphased in their bronze medal match with the Queen's Gaels at the OUA curling championships. Thanks to their steely resolve, they claimed a spot on the podium and a trip to the national championship next month.
After scoring a single point to tie things after 8 ends, the Warriors stole three points in the extra end with mere seconds left on their game clock as they defeated the Gaels 9-6 in a dramatic third-place game on Sunday at the Guelph Curling Club. With the bronze medal, the Waterloo rink of skip Celia Evans (Burton/), third Shannon Warriner (Burlington/), second Julia Evans (Burton/), lead Jessica Zheng (Niagara Falls/), and alternate Violet French (Ottawa/) will head to the U SPORTS/Curling Canada national championships in Fredericton, beginning March 12.
The national tournament will be a homecoming for the Evans sisters, as the pair will get a chance to represent the black and gold in their home province of New Brunswick.
"It feels so amazing, and being able to go home to New Brunswick will also amazing," said Julia. "To be able to win (a bronze medal) here, and get to play back home is awesome."
"I've been playing with my sister since the ripe old age of 9," added Celia, who was named an OUA all-star at the skip position. "If we were ever going to do something big, I knew it would be together. It's just all the more rewarding to play with my sister, win with my sister, and go home with my sister."
Waterloo stormed through the early draws of the provincial championship tournament, compiling a 4-0 record and earning the top seed in the playoff rounds. But things tightened up in the final day of action: The Warriors squeezed past Guelph in the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win in an extra end, before falling to the eventual OUA champion Laurentian Voyageurs 6-4 in the semi-final. It set up a showdown with Queen's for the bronze medal and the OUA's last nationals berth, and the third-place game did not disappoint.
The see-saw affair saw the Warriors steal two in the fifth end, but Queen's responded with three in the sixth and a steal of one in the seventh to take a 6-5 lead into the final end. The Warriors scored one to tie, but the grind of the final ends left them in a perilous clock situation heading into the extra end. Ultimately, their final stone left Celia's hand with less than 20 seconds left, and it helped secure a massive steal of three to give the Warriors the bronze.
"It was definitely pretty stressful, but that's all part of the game," said Warriner. "It's a big mental game, and you've got to just try to stay cool, calm, and collected."
"I feel like we played really well all weekend long," added Zheng, "so we hope we can just continue that into nationals."
Adding to the Waterloo hardware haul, head coach Taylor Weber was named the OUA coach of the year at the awards ceremony on Sunday night. And, while the Warriors coach knows how taxing the OUA championships were on his team, he was wowed by their resolve to do whatever it took to qualify for nationals.
"I'm thrilled for the ladies," said Weber. "That was our goal that we set out for the team at the beginning of the year. We stuck to it, and they kept their eyes on that prize all the way through the season. It was a bit of a grind coming through the OUAs, but they stuck it out, and I couldn't be prouder."
The Warriors will now turn their focus to the U Sports/Curling Canada championships, hosted by the University of New Brunswick from March 12-16. Once the field is set, watch gowarriorsgo.ca for the full draw schedule.
