Mission box lacrosse stars Dawson Chalifoux and Hailey Taylor brought home gold medals from the recent national championships in Whitby, Ont.
Chalifoux, a member of the B.C. midget girls squad, helped her team go undefeated en route to the title, capped by a 6-2 win over Ontario in the final.
It was a particularly satisfying victory for the 15-year-old Mission Secondary student because last year, as a member of the provincial bantam girls team, she’d settled for silver after a heartbreaking loss to Ontario in the gold medal match.
“It was disappointing,” Chalifoux recalled, “but that stuff happens. It just makes you want it more for the next year.
“This year, we had probably twice the amount of fitness and practice time. It was a lot of dedication that went into it. It was the best feeling in the world for me, because we got to beat Ontario in their hometown.”
Taylor was part of the B.C. bantam girls squad, and they also toppled the host province in the gold medal match, winning 4-3.
The game was tied in the last minute of regulation, but B.C. got the go-ahead goal and their goalie subsequently stopped an Ontario breakaway in the final seconds.
“It feels really good,” said Taylor, 14, who attends Heritage Park Secondary. “I thought our team was very confident going in. We played as a team, we moved the ball around a lot, and it turned out as a win.”