Northern Lights defeat US Freedom

The US Freedom traveled to Toronto, Canada to play the Canada Northern Lights for the first time since their initial meetings in 2007. The teams were not entirely unknown to each other since the Canadian clubs have been competing at the USAFL National Championship tournament since 2007. The Canadian team was strongly represented by the Calgary Kookaburras who won the 2008 USAFL championship by narrowly defeating the Atlanta Kookaburras and lost the 2009 Championship to the Milwaukee Bombers.

No one expected a one sided victory like the 2007 series in Vancouver where the Canadians were shut out in two matches. The Canadians and the US both were expecting a competitive set of matches.

The ladies had two matches scheduled for the weekend but Saturday was the big match for the cup. Canada got on the scoreboard first with two goals in the first quarter. After the first quarter break, the Americans controlled the play for the next two quarters but failed to capitalize consistently. Their counterparts seized their fewer opportunities and equaled the goals scored by the US.

Canada entered the 4th quarter with a two goal lead and neither team was able to add majors to the scoreboard but Canada ensured victory by scoring four behinds for the quarter

Final
Canada 4.12.26
USA 2.4.16

Goals
Canada Beck Jones 1, Lesky Zmurchuk 1, Katelyn Nanka 1, Lori Bossert 1.
USA Emily Riehl 1, Kathryn Hogg 1

Best

Canada Lesley Zmurchuk, Aimeee Legnault, Hillary Perry, Erin LeBlanc, Marlena Ginocchio, Margo Legault.
USA Eileen Geoghegan, Monica Robbins, Emily Riehl, Erin Yiakos, Hallie Lee, Judith Stein

Umpires MVP Lesly Zmurchuk Canada

Game 2 - Sunday

Unlike the men, the women had a second game scheduled on Sunday. The US came to Canada with a small squad and were down to 16 players on Sunday due to injuries. The game was played with 16's giving Canada a considerable bench.

The US had the first three scoring chances with two behinds before Eileen Geoghegan cleaned up a missed mark off Kathryn Hogg in the goal square. Canada came back with a couple goals to take the lead at the quarter break.

The Freedom was playing much better, the talk was louder, players were being supported, and they were contesting every ball. The visiting Americans retook the lead and held it through the third quarter. They had an 11 point lead before Canada brought the margin back to less than a goal a mere couple of seconds before the final break.

In the 4th quarter, the lack of subs and Canada's bench became evident as they scored early and clearly had legs that the US team didn't in the 4th quarter. They finished with several goals to take the win by 4 goals.

Scores
Canada 10.6.64
USA 6.7.43

Goals
Canada: Beck Jones 3, Paige Wilson, Natasha Murphey, Katelyn Nanka, Neda Dalili, Lyndsay Smith, Leslie Gurba, Sherelle Kelly-Witt.
USA Eileen Geoghegan 2, Andrea Casillas 2, Marie LaVictoire 1, Amy Stewart 1

Best
Canada: Lesley Zmurchuk, Beck Jones, Erin LeBlanc, Sherelle Kelly-Witt, Hillary Perry, Lyndsay Smith.
USA Rachel Sweeney, Eileen Geoghegan, Emily Riehl, Lara Porter, Monica Robbins, Andrea Casillas