nnPictured above at the Curling Canada U-18 Championship (front row): Emma Acres, Ava Acres, Liana Flanagan, Mya Sharpe, and Aila Thompson. Back row: Coach Phil Mainville. (Curling Canada/Robert Wilson photo).nn
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NORTH DUNDAS – Competing at the top level in the sport you love is the goal of any athlete. For North Dundas-based curling team Team Acres, it was the chance to represent Ontario at highest level possible, the national championship.
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The team won the provincial U-18 championship on April 3 in Kingston and travelled to Oakville for the Curling Canada U18 National Women’s Curling Championship May 1-7.
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The team started strong in round-robin play winning their first three matches. Up first was a 10-3 victory against Team Prince Edward Island, followed by a closer 6-4 win over Team Manitoba, and a 7-6 win over Team British Columbia 2.
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“We got on to a losing streak,” Skip Emma Acres told The Leader. The team conceded 8-4 to Nova Scotia 1 in the fourth game of the round-robin. For Team Acres’ fifth game, it came down to officials measuring the rocks in the ninth end to determine the winner.
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“It was a matter of inches,” Acres described. “It was pretty intense.”
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Conceding their sixth and final round-robin game saw the team finish fourth in their pool with a 3-3 record.
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“It was disappointing to not make it into the playoff round,” she said. “It’s such a high level of competition.”
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The team entered into the consolation round of the championship and finished tied for 10th place overall out of the top-21 teams nationally. To win the consolation round, Team Acres repeated a win against their Ontario competitors whom they beat to win the provincial championship in April.
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“We’re still Ontario’s champions,” Acres said with a chuckle adding there is a lot of camaraderie between teams in the sport.
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“It’s a great accomplishment to play at this level. It was a great experience,” Acres said of the competition.
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For Emma, this is the last year for competing at the U-18 level and she is already in the process of forming a new team to compete at the U-21 level this fall while attending Queen’s University in Kingston. Emma’s sister Ava, will take over as skip for the 2022-23 season.
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The team, hosted at the RCMP Curling Club in Ottawa, this year consisted of Emma – skip, Ava – third, Liana Flanagan – second, and Mya Sharpe – lead. Aila Thompson was the spare and will join the team full time in the fall.
