For roughly 55 minutes on Tuesday afternoon, the Ryan Cup final looked like it was going to be a David and Goliath story at the University of Victoria.
David鈥檚 rubber band, on that fabled slingshot, snapped, however, and the Goliath-like Oak Bay Breakers recorded a 2-1 win over the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags in the senior girls鈥� city soccer final.
Down 1-0 on an own goal in the 18th minute of play, the Breakers pressed hard in the second half and used goals from Janessa Lane in the 56th and 59th minutes to pull out the win for the triple-A school, over the double-A opponent.
鈥淲hat a battle. We put ourselves in a bit of a hole with the own goal, but what a game,鈥� said Breakers coach Brent Garraway. 鈥淚t was nice to see the girls had the maturity 鈥� we鈥檝e been talking about that all year to be able to regroup and settle down.
鈥淪MUS turned it into an all-out war, which was perfect for both teams before we go to Islands,鈥� added Garraway, who was preaching patience at the half along with his assistant coaches Katie Hanson and Elise Butler.
鈥淓verybody just take a breath. It鈥檚 hard for a lot of girls who haven鈥檛 played in a game for a trophy before,鈥� he said of his message. 鈥淵ou get overly excited and it was nice to see the girls take that breath at halftime and come out and play in the second half.鈥�
Lane鈥檚 corner kick curled straight in to tie it at 1-1 and Lane was at it again moments later, in the right lane to deposit a rebound after goalie SMUS Anna Mollenhauer made a fabulous diving save to her right off Karakostas to keep the Blue Jags鈥� hopes alive.
It wasn鈥檛 meant to be on this day as the scrappy SMUS team got caught in a very defensive second half.
鈥淚 think we were out-matched against a team like that, no question, and we鈥檙e going to be on our heels defending the whole game,鈥� said SMUS coach Nikki Kaufmann, whose team also lost 2-1 to Oak Bay in the UVic tournament earlier this season. 鈥淲e battled as best we could on the day.
鈥淭hey out-matched us in a lot of areas, but I鈥檓 proud of the way the girls battled and competed and that bodes really well for us moving forward into Islands next week. We鈥檙e a little double-A school, which probably had no business being here in the first place,鈥� Kaufmann said.
鈥淣ot to say we didn鈥檛 earn or deserve to be here. We absolutely did, but we knew it was going to be a tough battle. I guess it could have gone either way. In the end, they had a better second half and took advantage of their opportunities.鈥�
She was right about that with Lane finishing it off.
鈥淚t was an amazing feeling seeing it [the rebound] come at me and just being able to see the future for the game. It raises your spirits,鈥� Lane said of the winning goal.
鈥淲hen you have the support of your team and you鈥檙e able to calm down and trust, it makes you more confident and makes you want to finish it for them and for yourself.鈥�
And she made no mistake with it.
Oak Bay will travel to Dover Bay in Nanaimo for the triple-A Island finals on Monday and Tuesday, while SMUS hosts the double-A Island tournament the same two days.
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CORRECTION: The Oak Bay Breakers鈥� first goal in Tuesday鈥檚 Ryan Cup soccer game final was scored by Janessa Lane. Lane scored both goals in the victory.
