With the way the Moose Jaw High School Athletic Association boys soccer quarter-final started out on Thursday afternoon at YaraCentre, it looked like the Moose Jaw Boys would be in for a long afternoon.
The defending league and provincial champion Central Cyclones scored inside the first three minutes and added their second marker before the game was 10 minutes old, all the while keeping pressure in the Boys’ zone.
But Moose Jaw -- made up of players from the Peacock Tornadoes and Riverview Royals and wearing Peacock colours -- didn’t go quietly.
A long-range goal at the 25-minute mark made it a one-goal game at half, and sure enough, the Boys would tie things up almost immediately after the second half resumed.
But you don’t have the kind of success Central has had over the years without knowing how to rebound -- and rebound they did, scoring four goals over the next 40 minutes to take a 6-3 victory.
Maybe a touch more dramatic than Cyclones coach Holly McCorriston would have liked, but at this time of season, a win is a win.
“They had to adjust to playing indoors since we don’t usually do this, but other than that it was trying out some new positions and trying out some different things,” said McCorriston, whose crew finds itself battling late-season injuries in addition to working in players from their exceptionally deep bench.
“We have a large team, so having fresh legs is a great advantage and it’s one we work hard to maintain, because it’s not easy to train a large squad and if we take the time to do it, it pays off in the end. We had lots of fresh legs today and that really helped.”
As McCorriston mentioned, the game was played inside YaraCentre as a last-minute change to escape the cold weather and preserve the soaked fields, with the City of Moose Jaw once again finding a way to accommodate the teams.
That made for a perfect, fast playing surface that both teams put to good use.
Patrick Pryadko and Josh Sazon scored for the Cyclones in the first half, while Enush John Ezra picked up a pair of second-half goals to go along with single markers from Sazon and Her Kaw Htoo.
Ettore De Sanctis scored all three goals for Moose Jaw.
The goal for Central now switches to returning to the league championship final, but it won’t be an easy task when they face the Yorkton Regional Raiders on Monday, Oct. 16 -- Yorkton took a 5-3 victory over Central in the regular season, meaning it’ll take an improved performance from the Cyclones to get the job done.
“We’ve played them once now and we know what we’re looking at,,” McCorriston said. “We have to stick to our game and keep our possession going, and make sure our bench is ready to play.”
The other boys quarter-final features Notre Dame at Swift Current on Tuesday, Oct. 10, with the winner of that contest advancing to face Yorkton Sacred Heart on Thursday, Oct. 12.
The league final is set for Wednesday, Oct. 18, with the time and place to be determined.
Only one girls' quarter-final will be played, with that contest featuring Weyburn taking on Vanier on Tuesday, Oct. 10. The winner of that game will advance to face Yorkton Regional in the semifinal on Thursday, Oct. 12, with the other semi featuring Swift Current taking on Yorkton Sacred Heart on Monday, Oct. 16.
