WALL West Consolation Match

On February 10th, 2024, the Arena Lacrosse League West Women's held their Cherlyn Billy Memorial Championship games at the Langley Field House; on the unceeded Traditional Territory of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, and Matsqui First Nations. This was the second season that the Cherlyn Billy Memorial Championship took place. 

The Bats had a season full of challenges with the team often facing a short bench during their games. This lead to a league first with female coaches gearing up to give for more runners during two games to have the team avoid forfeiting their games. Colleen Kennedy, Carla Putrus and Kate Orchard playing.

The Deer had similar challenges this season with them often having a shorter bench than their competitors. The Deer had fresh faces to the league with coaches Kevin Hill, Keith Gagne and Charlie Jones. This bench had over 40 years of experience in lacrosse in various capacities. 

Game one was the Bats (six place team) vs the Deer (fifth place team), that started at 1:30 pm. The Bats had a unique player having goalie tender #00 Darya Saed playing as a runner, with #1 Ella Friesen in net for the Bats. Ella Friesen had a 30 saves during this match up. The Deer split playing time between #00 Dorothy Paul and #1 Mady Morrison. Dorothy Paul had 21 saves playing in the first two quarters, and Mady Morrison had 21 saves playing in the final two quarters.  

Deer 2023-2024  team photo

Both teams had a well played game, that left fans on their toes. Bats player #5 Isabelle Beech scored their first goal, with Deer answering back with a goal by #14 Amanda Jackson. The Deer #9 Amiee Morrison would score their second goal, with Bats answering back with 50.3 seconds left in the first with a goal by #18 Mady Nugent. 

In the second period the Deer would have #6 Daniella Carey and # 10 Mackenzie Ballance scoring a goal each. The Bats brought an intense start to the second half of the game with a total of 4 goals, with a goal from #18 Mady Nugent, #16 Alivia Ungaro , and with 2 goals from #6 Amber Haley.

Bats 2023-2024  team photo

Both teams would score goals in the fourth quarter. With the Deer answering back with goals by #6 Daniella Carey and # 9 Aimee Morrison to tie the game! The Bats would ultimately score the game winning goal with 2:50 left in the fourth, with a goal by #14 Amanda Jackson. Bats finished in fifth place, with the Deer finishing in sixth. 

We look forward to seeing these two teams in the 2024-2025 season!