Monday 30 January 2012

Scottish Junior Championships 2012

Our week at the Scottish Junior Championships started on Wednesday, a day later than the mens section, with our first two games against Maggie Wilson and then Hannah Fleming.

Our first game began well stealing a 1 against the head from the Wilson side, then stealing a further 2 in the 4th leaving the score 4-2 at the 5th end break. Wilson started off the second half of the game with a steal of 1 but Team Smith followed this with a confident 3 in the 7th end and a 2 in the 9th to post our first win on the board, 9-4.

The next game of the day was against Hannah Fleming and her team, the game began with the 1st and 2nd ends being blanked then Fleming gained a 3 in the 3rd. A fight back from our side left the score 5-4 to Smith after 9 ends, but as time ran out the Fleming side won by default.

Thursdays first game began with Mhairi Paul's team, we began this game with consecutive steals in the first 3 ends and the score at the 5th end break was 4-1. A convincing 3 at the 8th end left the score 8-3 to us and the handshakes were offered.

Next we played Jennifer Martin's team, Martin stole a 2 in the 1st end after a few mistakes by our side but we got ourselves back on track with a single in the second end followed by 3 consecutive steals of 1 to leave us 4-2 up at the 5th end break. We continued our strong performance after the break and a 4 in the 9th end secured our victory 10-5.


After 3 wins and 1 loss and only 2 more round robin games to go Friday's games were all to play for. Our first game on Friday was against Lesley Young's side this was one of our closest games, with hammer we took our 2 in the 1st end and forced Young to her 1 in the 2nd, the score was 4-2 at the 5th end break. Young then went on to steal a 1 in the 6th and we follwed by taking a 1 in the 7th. The next 2 ends were blanked by Lesley's team and they took their 1 in the 10th leaving the score 5-4 in our favour.

Next we played Katie Wright's team from Stranraer, with hammer we took our 3 in the 1st end and Wright took her 1 in the 2nd, we then went on to blank the 3rd end and take a 3 in the 4th, a convincing win after 6 ends left us with 6 wins and 1 loss going into Saturday's game.

Our last round robin game was against Jennifer Dodds team who were on the same win/loss record as ourselves, with the winner going on to play Hannah Fleming's team later on that evening in the page 1 v 2 to determine the team who would go straight through to the final. This however was not to be our game with Dodds blanking the 1st end and then taking their 2 in the 2nd and a steal in the 3rd, the game was 4-1 to the Dodds side after the 5th end. Scores of 1 were swapped in the 6th, 7th and 8th ends before the Dodds side took a 3 in the 9th to secure their victory.



In the page 1 v 2 game Fleming stole the first 3 ends from Dodds making it 7-1 after 5 ends, leaving Dodds gambling for a win. This concluded unsuccessful and the game ended 8-2 to Hannah after 8 ends who went straight through to Sunday's final.

So it was going to be a Dodds V Smith semi final on Sunday morning, with the winner playing Fleming in the Final.



We had hammer, Dodds forced the 1 for us in the 1st end, then Dodds took a 3 in the 2nd. We then took a 1 in the 3rd and stole the next 2 ends leaving the score 4-3 after the 5th end break. Dodds then took their 1 in the 6th followed by us in the 7th, then Dodds again leaving the score 6-5 to Smith's side by the 9th end. A draw by Hazel in the 10th for the win was only slightly heavy and brushed passed the shot stone so it was to be an extra end. With last stone we tried to keep the end simple and when Jennifer's last stone was only half buried Hazel played a perfect hit to remove the shot rock and take us to the final.



Next up was the final, Smith against Fleming.

With hammer the Fleming side blanked the first end and took their 2 in the 2nd end. We then took our 1 in the 3rd followed by a big 4 for Fleming's side as a freeze wasn't quite made by the Smith side. By the 5th end break it was 6-2 to Fleming. Nothing was going well for us and the next 3 ends were taken by Hannah and we shook after 8 ends.





Well Done to Hannah Fleming, Lauren Gray, Alice Spence and Abi Brown who will go on to play at the World Junior Championships in Sweden in March later this year. In the boy's final Kyle Smith and his team beat Jay McWilliam's side to secure their right to represent Scotland in Sweden. Good luck to both teams!

All above photo's courtesy of Bob Cowan
Our Silver Medal
Team Smith would finally like to thank everyone who has helped and supported us throughout this week and the whole season!

Team Smith xoxo

Sunday 4 December 2011

Qualifiers at Ayr

At Ayr this weekend the qualifiers for the Scottish Junior Championships which is held in Aberdeen from the 25th-29th January took place. Twelve girls teams took to the ice on Friday morning to determine the seven which would make it there to join Hannah Flemming's team who have been given a bye straight to the finals. The teams played in two sections with the top three teams out of each qualifying. The fourth placed teams in each section would then have to play off to determine the winner of the seventh spot. Our section was as follows; Jennifer Martin, Gina Aitken, Heather Morton, Rebecca Steven and Maggie Wilson.

Our first game was up against Gina Aitken's team but unfortunately Gina was unable to play this weekend due to injury so her third Katy Richardson stepped up to the skip position. Team Smith played well and with a steal of 2 in the sixth and a 4 in the eighth end we secured the victory 11-5.

The second game on Friday was against Rebecca Stevens and her team, however this game was a different story. After 3 consecutive steals by the Stevens team, we found ourselves with a lot of work to do and had to steal a 2 in the last end to peel the game. As Rebecca played her last stone Team Smith were lying the two shots required however our opposition played a perfect shot to take there 1 and we lost 9-6.
Eilidh in action

Saturday was a new day and the night before was forgotten! We were now up against Jennifer Martin's team of Tasha Aitken, Fiona Telfer and Mhairi Anderson, it was a tough one. Everyone played great in both teams and in the last end we were 1 down with last stone, the end was shaping up well for Team Smith with 1 hidden behind a couple of guards. Jen played a draw with her last stone and a tricky take out left us gaining a 3 for the win.

Next up was Heather Morton's team who also didn't have their skip in action due to injury with Gayle Allan moving up to skip the team. We played well throughout with the game ending after 7 ends with a convincing win for Team Smith.

nice wee frog leap!

Final day of the qualifiers was intense for most teams as it was uncertain who would be going to Aberdeen in Jaunary. We were aware that depending on how other teams done and how well we done would determine who went through. Our early morning game of the weekend was against Maggie Wilson's team who dominated the game throughout and with a score line of 7-3 to the Wilson team we conceded. Fortunately for us Jennifer Martin won her final game against Gina Aitken's team and so we still qualified! Our coach then made us aware that even before the game was played we were already through although had neglected to tell us this before hand!

So who is through?

The girls teams joining us in Aberdeen are Jennifer Martin, Maggie Wilson, Jennifer Dodds, Lesley Young and Katie Wright. Well done to them all! 

Two tie-breakers are now required to determine the teams in fourth position who will then play-off to determine the final qualifier. Mhairi Paul will now be joining us in January.

See you all in Aberdeen! :D Well Done team!

Team Smith xoxo

Sunday 20 November 2011

Final Day at Aberdeen

This morning we were up against Judith McFarlane and her team of Cat Guthrie, Jill Donald and Fiona Steele. The game started off as a close affair with the teams tied 2 all after 4 ends. Unfortunately after this the team performance depreciated with the middle section of the team feeling unwell. The game ended 10-3 to the McFarlane side. Well done to them.

Next up we face Jen Dodds and her team. Fingers crossed the team can rally round in time for this game.

It was a positive start for Team Smith against Jennifer Dodds having hammer and taking a 2 in the 1st end. Dodds went on to blank the 2nd, take a 1 in the 3rd and then they stole the 4th and the 5th ends. It was 3-2 to Dodds then Team Smith took their 1 in the 6th then stole 1 in the 7th. Although we knew it wasn't our day already and we now couldn't get through to the final due to number of ends won we continued the 8th end when Jen took her 1 ending the game 4-4.



Photos and extras at:    http://skipcottagecurling.blogspot.com/


It was now Dodds V Fleming in the final, well done to Team Dodds who won Aberdeen's Womens Tour and to Team Fleming who won the competition overall!

Team Smith xoxo