Having settled for silver the last two times the tournament was held, the Central was looking to cap off yet another solid provincial run by winning it all this time around.
And sure enough, they were able to get the job done.
The Cyclones took a 3-1 win over Yorkton Sacred Heart in the gold medal game, capping an impressive -- and equally as unusual -- campaign for the local squad.
“We had some kids who have played together for a while and this is the most talented core that we’ve had, but this is the best group that I’ve been with that’s played as a whole team, which is what soccer is,” said Cyclones coach Ray Rawlyk.
“I’ve seen other teams, including ours, that had two or three superstar players, but every time we hit the final, it was always the team that played better that won, regardless of those super players… You can take those good players out of a game, but it’s harder to play against a team that plays as a team. Everyone bought into what we showed them and it made all the difference.”
The Cyclones wasted little time getting things going at provincials, with their 4-0 semifinal win over Martensville a product of the team coming out on fire right from the get-go.
Things weren’t going to be as easy against Sacred Heart, though, especially since the tournament hosts were especially focussed after a loss to Central earlier in the season.
“They were chomping at the bit and had revenge on their mind,” Rawlyk said. “They knew exactly what they wanted to do and were first to the ball for most of the game and gave us all we could handle. Then they double-teamed the right players and it really gave us some problems… But our team had so much depth that we could get around that, it just took us a while to figure out.”
And when they did, Sifiya Benson Muya was there to make it count. The Cyclones veteran scored all three goals for Central in their gold medal win.
“He capitalized on the chances, some of the goals weren’t pretty and we dug in to get the ones we needed,” Rawylk said.
That the season happened at all in Moose Jaw was the product of plenty of work throughout the campaign, with both boys and girls leagues even resorting to 9 v 9 play in order to get games in.
“It took a lot of creativity and a lot of buy-in from everybody at every level, and it’s great that we were able to do it,” Rawlyk said. “Especially having Yorkton Regional and Yorkton Sacred Heart joining our league, it helped make all of us better.
“Then all the refs were on board and every coach was sympathetic to what we were trying to accomplish… as ugly as it was, it was a beautiful thing to see. Participation was one of the major keys this year, getting some semblance of normalcy for the kids. It was great to see regardless of who won the games.”
