Water polo silver leads huge Tuesday Ottawa medal haul

~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~

Jessica Gaudreault (centre) and Team Canada won 3 games, tied 1, and lost the final to USA to earn a silver medal in the Pan Am Games women’s water polo competition. Photo: Steve Kingsman

By Dan Plouffe

There was certainly some sting in the silver medal for Capital Wave water polo player Jessica Gaudreault as she and Team Canada were thoroughly beaten 13-4 by USA in the championship game of the Pan Am Games women’s tournament Tuesday night in Markham.

“It wasn’t our day,” said Gaudreault, whose team was outscored 7-1 in the second half by the London 2012 Olympic champions. “You know what? I don’t think it’s them. Sometimes I think it’s on us. Individual mistakes, team mistakes, that can cost us the game. But it’s something we can fix. We can come back stronger and better.”

Canada topped their preliminary pool with wins over Venezuela and Puerto Rico and a tie against Brazil to reach the medal round. The Canadians pounded Cuba 14-7 in the semi-final to assure themselves of a medal.

“That was exciting,” recounted Gaudreault, Canada’s 20-year-old starting goalkeeper. “Half of our team has never performed at a Pan Am Games before. Knowing we were all getting a medal is unbelievable.”

Alex Bruce knew Monday that she’d be getting a pair of badminton medals thanks to a smooth run through to the mixed and women’s doubles semi-finals without dropping a set. The RA Centre-based athlete collected a bronze in the women’s event as she and Phyllis Chan fell 20-22, 14-21 to Brazil in the semi-final. Bruce and Toby Ng will receive either silver or gold in the mixed competition following Thursday’s final.

“I’m really happy,” said Bruce, who spent time in Vancouver with her Canadian mates in advance of the Pan Am competition. “Both my partners have been preparing for this for a long time, so I’m glad it’s been clean (through to the medal round).”

Ottawa native Andrew D’Souza will play for badminton men’s singles gold thanks to an electric 13-21, 21-14, 21-13 victory over a Cuban player ranked 159 places higher than him in the world rankings.

“I think the crowd really helped me,” noted D’Souza, who is dominant force when he gets rolling. “I was feeling really energized.”

Queensview Goodlife-brewed squash player Samantha Cornett collected her second medal of the Games, adding a women’s doubles silver to the bronze she won in singles.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together,” Cornett said of partner Nikole Todd, who combined to beat pairs from Guatemala and Mexico to reach the final against USA – champions by a 11-9, 9-11, 11-6 count. “That’s the first thing that really helps a team. I don’t think we had any trouble with chemistry out there. I think we complemented each other really well. We were a really good team.”

Ottawa Rowing Club-associated athlete Rosie DeBoef contributed to Canada’s major medal haul on the Royal Canadian Henley course in St. Catharines with her 3rd-place finish in the women’s coxless pairs event alongside Kristin Bauder on Monday.

“We attacked the race right from the start, which we wanted to do,” explained DeBoef, part of the Canadian team racing in a major international competition on home water for the first time since the 1999 World Championships. “The crowd definitely helped, especially when you are tired.”

University of Ottawa Gee-Gees product Kate Goodfellow won her women’s quadruple sculls preliminary heat by a large 15-second margin over the U.S. and will race for the podium Wednesday morning.

Tennis player Gabriela Dabrowski is in the medal round in women’s doubles and will take home a medal in the mixed doubles event as well. She plays in the mixed final and the women’s semis Wednesday at York University.

Look for more detailed coverage in August’s Ottawa Sportspage newspaper.