Teagan Ng proved be quite the “free agent” pick-up for the Coquitlam Adanacs this season.
The soon-to-be Grade 8 student at McMath Secondary grew up playing on top boys box lacrosse teams in the Richmond Roadrunners organization. Once Ng reached Bantam age, her parents felt it was the right time to cross over and play girls.
That was easier said than done.
The Roadrunners now have girls teams at the Novice and Pee Wee levels but nothing beyond that yet. The Lower Mainland Lacrosse Commission initially assigned Ng to a team in Delta. However, with a limited roster of just nine players, including seven first-years, it quickly became apparent Ng’s skill set required her to play at the Bantam “A” level.
There were just five teams participating in the top tier in the Lower Mainland this past season and all were at least an hour away from her Steveston home. The Adanacs ended up winning what proved to be the Ng “lottery.”
“We didn’t get to choose where she got to play. It was more like a lucky draw,” explained her dad Greg. “It’s the same for all girls that don’t have a team to play for in their home association. It was tough for us getting her to practices and games. I had to get my parents to help or whomever was around, even to leave work early sometimes.”
Coquitlam finished with a 9-6-1 league record then thrived at last month’s provincial championships — winning gold thanks to a big 4-2 upset of unbeaten Ridge Meadows in the gold medal game.
The heavy pre-tournament favourite had gone 16-0-0 in league play and coasted into the final, including an earlier 6-1 win over the Adanacs.
Ng played a large part in the championship run, earning the tournament’s most valuable player award.
“We had great teamwork all season and really believed in ourselves in the final,” said Teagan. “We got the early lead on them and that was the big thing. They hadn’t been in that situation all season.”
Her lacrosse season didn’t end there. A couple of weeks later she was off to Halifax as a member of Team B.C. that competed at the Bantam Female National Lacrosse Championships.
Ontario and B.C. finished first and second respectively in round-robin play to advance to the gold medal game. It would be their third meeting of the tournament, having split a pair of 4-2 games.
Ng opened the scoring just 54 seconds in but it would be B.C.’s only lead of the game. Ontario responded with three unanswered goals to close out the opening period and went on to win 5-3.
Ng used her excellent speed to lead B.C. in tournament scoring with 10 goals and five assists. It wasn’t what the provincial team coaching staff would have expected three months earlier when she showed up for tryouts.
“She was small and skinny compared to the other girls, especially as one of the few first-year Bantams. Then they saw her play and realized this was what it is all about,” said Greg.
Teagan has been asked to play field lacrosse this fall but is putting that version of the sport on hold for now. Instead, her focus will be on continuing to play Metro level soccer for her dad’s team. She is also looking forward to her first-year of high school sports at McMath, including basketball and track.
As far as box lacrosse goes, there is no certainty Ng will return to Coquitlam for her second season at the Bantam level.
Again, it will be up to the league to decide where she plays with parity certainly being a factor. The Ngs know of some players who have played for four different associations in as many years.
“Who knows. Someone might get a provincial MVP thrown on their team,” laughed Greg.
