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The drought is over for the St. Anne Saints.
After years of frustration, the Saints secured the team’s first WECSSAA senior boys’ AAA soccer title since 2012 on Thursday.
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“Twelve years it’s been and that makes it extra special,” Saints’ captain Niko Floros said.
The Saints stunned the top-seeded Holy Names Knights 2-0 on Thursday at the Holy Names high school field.
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“It’s definitely a heartbreaker,” said Knights’ captain Alessio Pizzutto, whose team has medalled at OFSAA the past two years. “We worked all year for this. All we wanted was that trophy and the bounces didn’t bounce our way.
“They played really well. We couldn’t put one in the back of the net.”
Both teams had chances in a scoreless opening half, but it was a defensive play in the second half that turned the tide for the Saints, who headed a Holy Names scoring attempt off the line that would have opened the scoring in the 55th minute.
“It was unreal,” Saints’ defender Stone Campbell said. “Definitely changed the game. Moments like that are pivotal in a game.”
Four minutes later, Floros redirected a shot in off a corner to put the Saints up 1-0. Unable to put the equalizer past Saints’ goalie Nikolas Varjacic, the Saints put the game out of reach with 11 minutes to play on a goal by Bolade Fawehinmi.
“It’s amazing,” Campbell said of the title. “I’ve been on this team for three years and it’s been three years of straight defeat, three years in a row, same team every single season for three years straight we’ve been looking at that red (Holy Names) jersey just wanting to beat them and it finally came this season. The boys are absolutely thrilled.”
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It capped an amazing turnaround for St. Anne, which started the season winless in its first three games, but closed the regular season with three shutout victories and capped it with another shutout in Thursday’s final.
“We started off slow, but we had to figure out our game,” Campbell said. “It took a while, but once we built chemistry with each other and got adjusted, we knew we were good enough to take the trophy.”
L’Essor 2 Riverside 1
The L’Essor Aigles once again emerged victorious in a rematch of last year’s WECSSAA senior boys’ AA final on Thursday at Holy Names,
In a chippy affair, the Aigles got goals from Nicoloas Fontecha and Serge Hopogap to offset Nicola Fontecha’s goal for the Riverside Stingers in a 2-1 victory.
Westview 1 Lajeunesse 0
The WECSSAA senior boys’ A final was also a repeat of last year’s final, but this time the Westview Freedom Academy Falcons turned the tables on the Lajeunesse Royals at Holy Names.
Mohammed Alshurafa scored in the opening half for the only goal in the Falcons’ 1-0 win over the Royals. Goalie Ibrahim Msallati played the bulk of the game, but needed some spot relief help from Tha Htoo in posting the shutout.
Vista 1 L’Essor 0
The Vista Academy Vortex ended the L’Essor Aigles’ two-year title reign in WECSSAA senior girls’ AA soccer.
Vista’s Ruby Grundner scored with just under five minutes left to play for the game’s only goal and goalie Melina Zsargo earned the shutout in a 1-0 win over the Aigles at Acumen Stadium.
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