Huge Upset Playoff Win for St. Clair Women’s Soccer
Oakville, ON- The St. Clair women’s soccer team came up with a huge upset win on Saturday afternoon in Oakville in OCAA Playoff action. The Saints stunned the home team Sheridan Bruins with a hard fought 2-1 win.
The Bruins finished in 2nd place in the OCAA Central Division with a record of 8 wins and 2 losses. They scored 23 goals while allowing 11. Sheridan was ranked 4th in the OCAA and 11th in Canada. St. Clair finished the regular season with a record of 3 wins, 5 losses and 2 ties good for 4th place in the West Division. The Saints scored 20 goals and allowed 17 against. St. Clair is currently unranked.
The Saints got off to a great start as Ryan Morneau (Windsor; L’Essor) scored at the 6 minute mark on a nice play. Shortly after that Sheridan tied the score as Zoe Derkach put her own rebound in the net in the 14th minute. However, it didn’t take for St. Clair long to restore their lead as Cassie Nicholas (Windsor; Holy Names) put St. Clair up 2-1 in the 20th minute of play. St. Clair controlled most of the play for the first half attempting 9 shots compared to only 3 for Sheridan.
The Bruins pushed hard in the second half to get the equalizer but could not get one past Saint’s keeper Madison Kaldenbach (Milton; Craig Kielburger). Sheridan had 8 shot attempts in the 2nd half while the Saints only had 3 as they sat back and tried to protect their lead. Kaldenbach made 8 saves on the day compared to 7 for the Sheridan keeper. Sheridan had 6 corner kicks compared to 4 for St. Clair in the entire game.
“Our ladies played their best all-around game of the season at the most important time. It was a total team effort from the keeper right on out as we laid it all on the line.”
Saints Head Coach Kris Geier
With the win, St. Clair advances to the OCAA Championships being hosted by Seneca College in Toronto from October 25-27.
The Saints were led offensively during the regular season by Cassie Rose-Medeiros (London; John Paul II) who scored 5 goals in 10 games and Cassie Nicholas(Windsor, Holy Names) who scored 4 goals in 10 games. St. Clair has a young squad this season with half of the players being rookies on the roster. Centre Back Ravneet Rana (Windsor; Riverside) will have to continue her strong play on the back end for the Saints to do well at Provincials.
St. Clair Men’s Soccer Lose Playoff Match
The St. Clair Men’s soccer team will travelled to Oshawa on Saturday to take on the top ranked Durham Lords in OCAA playoff action. Unfortunately the Saints came out on the short end of a great game losing 2-1.
St. Clair took an early lead when Tyrone Mulder (Merlin; Chatham-Kent) tucked the ball under Lords keeper in the sixth minute of the game. The Lords found an equalizer in the 16th minute when Nate Paine cut in and found the bottom right corner from long range to as the Lords started to pick up momentum. Jeremy Bangala thought he had given the Lords the lead shortly after, but his goal was called offside. The sides went into the break levelled at one.
Durham nearly scored a go-ahead goal in the 50th minute, but the curling effort hit the post. The Lords were awarded a penalty in the 60th minute when Nigel Buckley was fouled inside the Saints 18-yard box; Buckley stepped up to convert, but his penalty was well saved by the Saints’ keeper Haiden Gelinas (Windsor; St. Joseph’s) Only nine minutes later Buckley redeemed himself for the penalty miss after he found space in the box and poked the ball into the bottom right corner. The Saints pushed forward for an equalizer late, but the Lords stood firm.
Saints head coach Mike Baraslievski was happy with his team’s effort. “We played a solid game against a great team and came up a little short. It was a great learning experience for our young team that is half freshman”
Durham is now unbeaten in 11 games this season and will advance to the OCAA men’s soccer championship presented by belairdirect, which begins on Thursday, Oct. 25 and is hosted by George Brown
The Lords finished in 2nd place in the OCAA West with a record of 6 wins and 4 ties. They scored 35 goals while allowing 8. Durham is ranked 5th in the OCAA and 8th in Canada. The Lords are also the defending OCAA Champions. St. Clair finished the regular season with a record of 5 wins and 5 losses. The Saints scored 21 goals and allowed 18 against. St. Clair is currently ranked 10th in the OCAA.