Just ask the Vanier Spirits high school girls soccer team.
The Spirits posted a pair of commanding wins to claim gold at the 4A girls provincial championships in Yorkton this past weekend, coming off a middle-of-the-road regular season that saw them fall in the semifinals.
Vanier went into the tournament as the second seed and opened with a 4-1 win over Martensville on Friday. The other side of the bracket saw top-ranked Se Se Wa Hum take a 2-1 win over Yorkton Sacred Heart.
The championship game Saturday afternoon was more of the same for Vanier, as they posted another 4-1 win to claim the title.
Scoring information was not immediately available.
The 4A boys championships also took place at Yara Centre field in Moose Jaw this past weekend, with the Central Cyclones facing the Regina Luther Lions in the gold medal game.
The contest was a far cry weather-wise from the semifinals a day earlier – with temperatures pushing 20 C for Central’s 3-2 win over Se-Se-Wa-Hum and Luther’s 3-1 win over Humboldt on Friday, it was as pleasant soccer weather as one could hope for.
The gold medal game brought with it strong winds, bitter cold and snow much of the contest. In the end, a late first-half goal proved to be the difference as the Lions would go on to a 2-1 win.
“I’m very proud of how the guys played all year, they grew a lot this year and I feel really bad for them because they got away a little bit from the gameplan today,” said Cyclones coach Jason Brown. “But they played so well, they were much better today than at the start of the season.”
The second half saw Luther put on a solid defensive performance and prevent Central from recording more than a handful of forays into their territory.
“The boys battled back and did what they could, but just couldn’t pull it out,” Brown said.
Abdullah Aboul Khir scored the lone goal for Central.
Humboldt defeated Se-Se-Wa-Hum 3-0 in the bronze medal game.
At the 5A boys championship in Swift Current, the reigning Moose Jaw league champion Colts fell 1-0 to Regina Campbell in the bronze medal game.
The 5A girls championship in Saskatoon saw Saturday’s games cancelled due to the weather, with the league champion Swift Current Ardens scheduled to face Regina LeBoldus for bronze.
