The Sacred Heart Saints boys’ soccer team punched their ticket to the 2015 SHSAA 2A Boys Provincial tournament in Regina this coming weekend in emphatic fashion, trouncing Moose Jaw Vanier 7-0 in Region C semi-final action Friday in Kipling before doubling up Notre Dame 6-3 in the Region finals.
Ben Fetsch scored a hat trick in Sacred’s opening match of the tournament, while Nick Fetsch, Matthew Cochrane, Dami Ogunbiyi and Steven Oleskiw also found the back of the net against Vanier.
Michael Dobrowolski picked up the clean sheet, keeping Vanier off the scoreboard all game long for his seventh shutout of the season.
That set up a final game against Notre Dame, who dropped Moose Jaw Central 3-1 in their semi-final game to advance to the finals.
The Saints came out strong for the final as Christian Smith gave Sacred Heart a 1-0 lead.
Nick Fetsch made it 2-0 for the Saints not long after, however a pair of Notre Dame goals, one each by David Palmarin and Sterling Behnke, brought the teams back to even.
However that tie wouldn’t last long, as Nick Fetsch tallied his second of the game to give the Saints a 3-2 lead. Three more Sacred Heart goals, one each by Ben Fetsch, Louis Shin and Smith made it 6-2 for the Saints before Palmarin got his second of the game to make the score a little more respectable at 6-3.
That proved to be that last goal of the game however, as the Saints held on for a 6-3 win. Following the game Saints head coach Jeanne Fetsch told Yorkton This Week that she was happy with not only how the team played at Regionals, but with how they have played so far this season. “I am extremely happy with the way the boys have performed thus far this season,” offered Fetsch. “We have a group of eight Grade nine’s and one Grade 10 rookie on our team so we are a fairly young team but we have some great Grade 11 and Grade 12 leaders (that have stepped up).”
As for Provincials, Fetsch says she’s unsure of what will happen as the Saints haven’t played many of the teams that have advanced. However she is still confident that Sacred Heart will do just fine. “We have not played many of the teams who have advanced to provincials so it is difficult to say how we will stack up against them, but I do think though that we have a very strong, skilled and physical team so I like our chances,” suggested the Saints head coach, adding that their bench is stronger than they were last year when the Saints won silver following a 2-0 defeat to Lake Lenore in the Provincial final. “We have some bench strength that we did not have last year so we hope that if we play our very best we will be successful.”
The Saints open up the 2015 SHSAA 2A Provincials Friday morning at 9:00a.m. against Martensville. The winner of that game plays the winner of Luther College and Regina Christian.