OFSAA bronze for Bulldogs soccer squad
The Sir Winston Churchill girls soccer team continued an incredible run of success for the school’s girls squads at Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships.
Bolstered by their rich OFSAA pedigree, the soccer team won a bronze medal at the OFSAA AA championship in Cobourg.
“On our team we have multiple girls who have been to OFSAA before and since we are such a young team, having that OFSAA experience already on the team was nice,” head coach Henry Allan said. “They helped guide the younger girls on the team.”
The result was another provincial medal.
“The girls played really well and they definitely stepped up their game for OFSAA. We knew we were good but we didn’t realize we were that good,” Allan said.
The Bulldogs tied L’Essor 0-0 and beat Huntsville 3-0, Garneau 4-1 and Lorne Park 2-0 to finish first in pool play. Churchill then defeated St. Joseph’s 3-1 on penalty kicks in the quarter-finals, lost 4-0 to St. Mary’s in the semifinals and defeated Paul Dwyer 1-0 in the bronze medal game.
“The semifinal game was all right but we were definitely a little shell-shocked. Even I was shell-shocked as a coach. By the time we realized what was going on we were already down 3-0,” he said. “It was a tough one because the team we played set up super defensively so they forced us to try and break them down. It was something we hadn’t come across before.”
Churchill bounced back well in the bronze medal game.
“They didn’t need any encouragement. They put the loss out of their minds and they were ready to go again. It was really nice to see.”
Allan felt there was a key characteristic that made the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association champions a special group.
“It was the closeness that the girls had and how tight-knit together they were as a group. There was nothing that was going to come between them and their goals.”
He is already looking forward to what the team can do next season.
“We are returning nine of our 11 starters from the bronze medal game. We are looking at OFSAA again next year.”
The team should be even better prepared for a run at a provincial gold medal.
“It will be another year of experience for the girls. Everyone is going to be one year older and have one more summer of playing so I think that is what is going to kind of set us apart.”
Members of the team were Emma Connolly, Kate Smyth, Ava Gray, Grace Gray, Anya Namestnik, Mackenzie Munro-Flora, Anna Keating, Iris Yuan, Olivia Honsinger, Sam Greene, Megan Barker, Abby Connolly, Gabrielle deRoos, Izabella Peeler, Chloe McNeil, Kayleigh DiGirolamo, Yemi Oladipo, Hailey Comvalius, Tyleigh Finora and Hailey McMahon-Taubeneck.
