Lightning failed to strike twice in Ryan Cup senior girls鈥� soccer semifinal play on Thursday, but the first bolt sent more than enough shockwaves at Glenlyon Norfolk School.
The host GNS Gryphons toppled the Oak Bay Breakers 2-0 to advance to the Lower Island league championship game on Tuesday at the University of Victoria where they will face the Reynolds Roadrunners who downed the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags 1-0 in the second semi, also played at GNS.
Unlike Game 1, the double-A Blue Jags could not overcome the triple-A Roadrunners, but there were still rumblings being felt from the win by the underdog Gryphons.
鈥淥bviously, we were facing a really strong opponent. I鈥檓 so happy for the girls, they鈥檝e worked hard all year and they certainly deserved some success, so why not today,鈥� said Gryphons coach Sonny Pawar.
鈥淲e take every game one at a time. We prep as well as we can and we just try to have a go. That鈥檚 what we did today and we got a couple of lucky bounces. Credit to Oak Bay, they鈥檙e a powerhouse and we hung in there with them today.鈥�
Did they ever.
GNS actually controlled most of the play in the scoreless first half, in particular in the midfield. The best chance for the Gryphons came on a well served through ball from Chloe Korol-Filbey to Caitlin Ciceri, but it was well saved by charging Breakers keeper Judy Cristante.
Oak Bay also had its chances as Jayden Preston and Katie Muirhead both sent chances wide.
In the second half, Gryphons keeper Tori Windle made a spectacular one-handed save off Oak Bay鈥檚 Ariel Schellenberger. Preston then couldn鈥檛 finish off a cross from Cara Butler just minutes before Korol-Filbey struck for the first goal with a well placed ball from distance in the 51st minute.
Caitlin Forster-Coull them made it 2-0 on a long free kick that was misjudged.
鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of everyone. We just fought so hard. We left it all out there,鈥� said GNS鈥檚 Emily Forster-Coull. 鈥淥ak Bay is an amazing team, huge credit to them, but we definitely knocked it out of the park this time and that鈥檚 pretty amazing.鈥�
The Gryphons finished first in the single-A/double-A division, while Oak Bay placed second in triple-A, setting up a bit of a David vs. Goliath scenario.
鈥淚 thought we had a good effort today, we played pretty well. We couldn鈥檛 ask for more, effort-wise, but we were missing three or four of our starters, so that didn鈥檛 help,鈥� said Desi Leal of the Breakers. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been struggling a bit with our goal scoring.鈥�
The was the case on this sunny afternoon.
Oak Bay lost its last regular-season game, 2-1 to Reynolds, which claimed first place in triple-A.
In the later semi, Anika Way provided the only offence needed for the Roadrunners against the Blue Jags.
鈥淭he girls are really excited about the chance to play for a city championship,鈥� said Reynolds coach J.J. Atterbury of his team鈥檚 victory.
The case is the same for the Gryphons.
鈥淚t鈥檚 new territory for some of the girls, so it will be a matter of calming them down and trying to act like we鈥檝e been there before,鈥� said Pawar.
