Raiders prevail in girls final at Niagara Cup
Tessa Vahrmeyer is the engine that drives the Holy Cross Raiders senior girls soccer team.
The 17-year-old, Grade 12 student turned in an outstanding performance Tuesday over four games to help the Raiders to the senior girls A/AA division championship at the 10th Annual Niagara Cup held at Youngs Sportsplex in Welland.
Vahrmeyer scored goals in the Raiders’ first two wins and was named tournament Most Valuable Player as Holy Cross ran the table with four straight wins to come away with the championship.
“She’s great. A hard worker and she leads by example for this team,” Holy Cross head coach Antony Volante said. “She’s kind of the catalyst. When the girls see her up and after it, everyone else follows suit.
“It’s her energy, her athleticism, her skill. She’s an awesome player.”
Vahrmeyer was all smiles as she clutched her MVP trophy.
“It’s really nice,” she said.
Vahrmeyer enjoys being a leader.
“I just want to keep everyone not down when they make a mistake, always uplift someone,” she said. “Like our goalie Kathryn (Vanderkaay). She’s not our actual goalie and if she accidentally lets one in, I just want to let her know it’s never her fault. I want to give a big shout out to her for keeping us in a lot of games and want to remind everyone what their roles are.”
Vahrmeyer, who also plays for the Oakville Rush Soccer Academy, uses her blazing speed to great effectiveness from either wing.
“I mostly used my speed to attack down the line. When I’m on the left I try cutting to the net a lot and when I’m on the right, I use a lot of it for crossing,” she said.
The Raiders topped King’s Christian of Oakville 2-1 in the final while prevailing 1-0 in each of their first three games.
“Really proud,” Volante said. “It’s been a tough start with injuries to our season but it’s really nice to see the girls smiling and working as hard as they have for the last month.
“I’m really happy for them.”
Volante said it took a total team effort to win four games in one day.
“Everyone played a role in every game, whether it was big or small. It’s a war of attrition these tournaments and everyone came through and it was a total team win today,” he said.
Volante is hopeful the Raiders can build on the championship.
“It’s a good morale boost. You never know how seasons are going to go when you start and to get some early success like this, you get a little taste of success and you just want more and hopefully it continues,” he said.
Other members of the team are: Mairead Newhouse, Emily Sauriol, Zoe Anger, Isabella Dorion-Lawson, Olivia Damiano, Paige Baker, Delia Jessome, Charlotte Hingston, Sophie Constantini, Ava Cusick, Sophia Verrelli, Leila Ulin, Sevana Pace, Gracie Cherney, Milania Giunta.
The girls AAA tournament will be held Wednesday beginning at 8:30 a.m. and concluding with the championship final at 4 p.m.
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