Both of Sacred Heart's soccer teams, the highly talented boys' club and the defending Provincial champion girls' side, took to the pitch this past weekend for a chance to qualify for 2A Provincial play this coming weekend in Warman and Regina respectively.
Boys
The Saints boys' soccer team had the honour of welcoming four other teams to Yorkton for their Regional playoff this past weekend. Joining the top ranked Saints were the second seed Moose Jaw Central Cyclones, third seed Notre Dame Hounds, fourth ranked Moose Jaw Vanier Vikings and fifth ranked Kipling Magyars.
The Saints, by virtue of their number one ranking were given a first round bye, meaning they were able to scout their second round opponent Moose Jaw Vanier on Friday afternoon as Vanier took on and took down Kipling via penalties, 1-0.
The scouting seemed to pay off as the Saints jumped out to a 3-0 lead at halftime on a pair of goals by Ben Fetsch and one by Nathan Cochrane, before adding three more in the second half, one each by Fetsch, Cochrane and Kyle Schmidt, for a runaway 6-1 win.
Ben Esson tallied Moose Jaw's lone goal of the game.
Following the game, Saints co-coach Scott Hoffort felt that, while Fetsch and Cochrane really stood out offensively, it was the work of some of the lesser known players that really put the game out of Vanier's reach. "We had a lot of guys that played some really important minutes in that game and it made a huge difference in our overall result," suggested Hoffort. "We have to have everybody willing to work hard on our team to succeed and that's what they did today."
The 6-1 victory meant that, in addition to making the Regional final, the Saints had also officially punched their ticket to the Provincial championships in Warman next weekend.
However their work was not yet finished as standing between them and the front door to Provincials were the defending Provincial champion Moose Jaw Central Cyclones, who had dismantled Notre Dame 6-2 in their semi-final.
The Saints came out sluggish in the first half of the Regional final, allowing Central to carry the flow of the play. But the Cyclones were unable to beat Sacred Heart standout keeper Zack Shearer, despite pressuring the Saints for a good portion of the first half.
And while the Central offence struggled to find a way to score, the Saints offence did not, as Fetsch tallied his fourth goal of the playoffs via a penalty kick to make it 1-0 Saints at the half.
The second half looked to be a mirror image of the first half as this time the Cyclones came out sluggish while the Saints carried the play.
Central was even awarded a penalty kick in the second half, just like the Saints had received in the first. But that's where the similarities came to an end. Because while Fetsch buried his penalty kick opportunity deep into the Central net, the Cyclone striker was not so lucky as Shearer stood tall and denied the Central attempt to keep the game at 1-0 Sacred Heart with just 15 minutes remaining in the match.
The Saints defence then did its job, silencing the powerful Cyclone offence to secure a 1-0 shutout victory for the host team and the top seed in the 2014 2A Provincial Championships in Warman next weekend.
Following the game, however, the talk was not only about qualifying for Provincials. Much of the discussion was about Shearer's monstrous save that kept the game 1-0 in favour of Sacred Heart. "That was a fantastic save and he saved the day for sure," said Hoffort of Shearer's late game heroics. "If he didn't then the game would have been tied and who knows what would have happened."
Hoffort also congratulated Central on a very well-played game, saying, "They played an excellent game and really took it to us in the first half. They had a lot of good chances.
"In the second half we kind of got moving a little bit but it was an excellent game and they're an excellent team with a good chance in Provincials."
Finally the Saints co-coach offered up compliments to several of his own players. Fetsch and Cochrane were among those to gain praise from their head coach, but so were defenders Austin Jasan and Liam Poole, who both put forth strong efforts in the tournament. "Ben Fetsch stood out of course. He scored four goals on the weekend there," offered Hoffort, continuing, "We had a couple of players like Nathan Cochrane who had an excellent weekend with a couple of goals while Austin Jasan and Liam Poole played some excellent soccer this weekend as well."
Lady Saints
The Lady Saints soccer team was also in Regional playoff action this past weekend as they traveled to Notre Dame for a five team playoff.
The top ranked Saints were joined by the host Hounds, third seeded Regina Luther Lions, fourth seeded Regina Sheldon Williams Spartans and fifth ranked Regina Martin Monarchs.
The Lady Saints first opponents were the fourth ranked Sheldon Williams Spartans. The Lady Saints made quick work of the Spartans, crushing the Regina side 9-0 to move on to the finals where they met the host Hounds.
The Hounds proved to be stronger opponents than the Spartans, limiting the Saints offence to just four goals in the first half, two from Kendra Varjassy and one each by Bryce Sherring and Ally Berge, before keeping the Sacred Heart offence off the scoreboard in the final 45 minutes.
However the Saints defence also kept the Notre Dame offence quiet letting the Hounds score just one goal, a Gabby Senft second half tally, to take the Regional final 4-1 and give them second seed in next weekend's Provincial championship.
Next action
The next action for both Saints soccer teams will be this coming weekend as they take on the province's best teams in the 2A Provincial championships.
The boys will be in Warman for a 9:00a.m. game against the host Warman side while the girls will be in Regina to take on Saskatoon's Bishop Mahoney, the same team they defeated 4-1 in last year's Provincial final.
