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After cruising through the round-robin portion of the Island single-A senior girl鈥檚 soccer championship, the St. Andrew鈥檚 Sabres couldn鈥檛 quite sink their teeth into the gold medal on Saturday afternoon.
A goal from Emma Mitchell in the opening 20 minutes and shut-out goalkeeping from Molly Lash-Burrows led North Island Secondary School of Port McNeill to a 1-0 victory over the host Sabres in the championship final at Beckwith Park.
On Friday, St. Andrew鈥檚 had doubled up on N.I.S.S. 6-3 in round-robin play.
鈥淥ur girls were switched on. They were ready to win,鈥� N.I.S.S. coach Greg Muirhead said of the difference. 鈥淲e wanted to leave nothing on the field 鈥� play with our hearts, play with the intensity, and we did. That first goal is so important. We got it and rode the momentum.鈥�
They were also solid at the back in defending, as the Sabres controlled much of the play.
鈥淥ur defence was so tight today. Not just one of them, but all of them,鈥� Muirhead said.
The tournament champs also defeated Duncan Christian 8-0 in the morning, while St. Andrew鈥檚 downed Queen Margaret鈥檚 2-0 for a third straight victory.
鈥淚t was unfortunate,鈥� said Sabres coach Dean Anderson. 鈥淲e played a good team today. It could have gone either way and it鈥檚 unfortunate we didn鈥檛 pot one because I thought the girls deserved one. We definitely had the sway of play, but their keeper came up big and their defence was good.鈥�
Both teams advance to provincials in Kelowna starting May 31.
The Island double-A and triple-A championships begin on Monday. Frances Kelsey, in Mill Bay, will host the double-A event, which features eight teams in two pools including Mark Isfeld, St. Michaels University School, host Kelsey and Brooks in Pool A and Glenlyon Norfolk School, Brentwood College, Ballenas and Ladysmith in Pool B.
Games will be played at Sherman turf and MacAdam Park, beginning at 11 a.m.
Round-robin play continues into Tuesday, with the top two teams in each pool meeting in the gold-medal final at 2:30 p.m.
The second-place teams will play for bronze with two teams advancing to provincials at L.V. Rogers in Nelson, starting May 31.
The triple-A tournament will be played at the Braefoot and Oak Bay High pitches. It has been reduced to a seven-team event with Carihi, Oak Bay and Spectrum in Pool A and Reynolds, Cowichan, Stelly's and Claremont in Pool B.
Play begins at 9 a.m. and also carries through to Tuesday鈥檚 gold-medal game between the two top pool finishers at 2:30 p.m. at Braefoot. The top two go to provincials in Burnaby, also on May 31.
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