REGINA -- With the way things turned out for Saskatoon’s Ava Beausoleil and her Nutana Curling Club foursome at the Curl Sask U20 Women’s Provincial Curling championship this past week, one would almost think their win was fate.
From going undefeated and needing the fewest games possible to claim the title to how they won the green jackets on Sunday afternoon, the tournament couldn’t have gone much better for their crew.
Beausoleil, third Annika Steckler, second Leah Beausoleil, lead Hannah Rugg and alternate Mya Silversides took a dramatic 6-5 victory over defending champion Jenna Pomedli in the championship final and will now advance to nationals in Summerside, P.E.I. at the end of March.
Pomedli and her Saskatoon Nutana rink of third Melissa Remeshylo, second Kelsey Noyes and lead Kylie Williams got off to a good start in the final, with a steal of two in the third end and one in the seventh end giving the veteran foursome a 5-3 lead.
Beausoleil took over from there, though, scoring one in the eighth, stealing another in the ninth and then stealing again in the 10th to secure the come-from-behind win.
The provincial title is the second for Silversides and Rugg after they won the championship with Elizabeth Kessel in 2023.
Beausoleil opened with back-to-back A side wins before defeating Estevan’s Olivia Fonstad in the A final and again in the Page Playoff 1-2 game to book her spot in the title contest.
It was a far different story for Pomedli.
She first lost in the A semifinal to Fonstad and then dropped the B final to Regina’s Chloe Johnston, leaving her down to her last life in the C final on Saturday morning. There, Pomedli would take a win over North Battleford’s Chloe Semeniuk to advance to the Page Playoff 3-4 game
Pomedli kept the momentum going by defeating Johnston 5-4 in that contest and following up with a 12-4 win over Fonstad in the semifinal -- a game where she scored 10 points over the final three ends.
Beausoleil will now see action at the Curl Canada U20 Women’s National Championship beginning Mar. 22 in Summerside, P.E.I.
