HAGERSVILLE— The Six Nations Ladies Snipers couldn’t have asked for a more successful opening weekend performance.
In kicking off their 2020 Arena Lacrosse League (ALL) campaign, the Snipers generated lots of excitement when on Saturday, January 18th they entertained the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena fans by posting a 7-6 win against the St. Catharines Shockwave followed by a 10-4 decision against the Oshawa Outlaws.
“There is still work to be done,” Snipers coach Chris Hill said. “It was our first weekend back and we were a little rusty. Today was mostly about conditioning and working on catching and passing.”
Riding the momentum of that opening game win against the Shockwave, Six Nations came out strong against the Outlaws as they got that pivotal opening goal which came from forward Brianna Trembley who was coming off a multi-goal performance against the Shockwave.
In what was shaping up to be a real old- fashioned goalies duel, Oshawa managed to tie things up with just under 90 seconds remaining in the first before Six Nations showed a flair for the dramatics when with 30 seconds remaining Hailee Johnson from the slot scored the go-ahead goal.
“I like this (playing in ALL) more than summer league,” Johnson said. “Playing with older girls, the level is faster and it makes you work harder.”
Once again Snipers goalie Cordelia Eno proved to be money with some early saves before Tyra Skye capitalized 58 seconds into the second with her first of two for a 3-1 lead.
Approximately two minutes later the Snipers offence struck again as Trembley showed a pair of soft goal scoring hands as she rifled home a shot from the slot for the fourth goal as they took a 4-2 lead into the half.
“We came together and our passes were there,” Johnson said.
The eventual turning point came in the third when Six Nations offence caught fire with five goals from Patricia Maracle with two along with Johnson and Skye both scoring their second in opening the game up for an 8-2 Snipers lead.
Continuing to generate some offensive excitement Six Nations reached double digits as they notched two fourth quarter goals from Trembley with her third followed by veteran Mekwan Tulpin as they officially start the Arena Lacrosse League season with consecutive wins.
