Joey Payeur
Chalk one up for the young guns and another one for the old boys’ network.
The experience levels may have been of opposite extremes, but the thrill of victory was the same for two squads who pocketed Borderland Soccer League championships last night at the Struchan Gilson pitches.
The La Place Rendez-Vous Voyageurs U-18 team took advantage of their older, battle-weary opposition in a 4-0 shutout of Boston Pizza to capture the women’s title.
Maryam Seid was the difference maker for the Voyageurs, scoring twice and setting up the other two goals by Alyssa Holliday and Jess Caul for La Place Rendez-Vous.
“It was a lot of hard work and determination by all of us that pulled us through,” said Seid, whose corner kick was headed in by Holliday for the eventual game-winner just before halftime to kick off the scoring.
“I was just worried the game was going to be forfeited (due to Boston Pizza’s lack of players). You want to have the opportunity to play in a championship game,” she added.
Boston Pizza, missing regulars Colleen Hogan and Jessica Wilson due to injury, started the game one player short and then lost defender Abbi Perreault in the early stages of the final to a thigh injury.
To top it off, starting goalkeeper Amy Wilson-Hands hurt her elbow making a diving save in the second half.
“It was a good run,” said Boston Pizza sniper Laureen Peters, who led the league this season with 30 goals.
“Injuries were the difference. We were down to almost nothing on our roster. We gave what we could. We just ran out of steam,” she added.
Meanwhile, the men’s final between International Travel Services and Senior Pharmasave saw the younger ITS squad bested by their more gray-haired opponents 4-3 in penalty kicks after the two teams were tied 1-1 after regulation.
Mike Ohman, who opened the scoring in the first half to give Senior Pharmasave the lead, bookended that effort by ripping the game-ending goal past diving ITS goalkeeper Ben Whitburn into the lower left part of the net.
“It’s good for us old guys to be able to pull it off,” said Ohman after his heroics. “It’s just a privilege to be able to play. But winning is always sweet.”
Cameron Gobeil tied the game for ITS in the second half to force the penalty-kick scenario. But after Senior Pharmasave goalkeeper Tristan Hutton stopped Ben McBride cold on ITS’ first attempt, Gobeil rocketed his shot wide of the left post on ITS’ third opportunity for what would end up being the decisive miss.
Senior Pharmasave, which also received shootout goals from Mike Webb, Steve Hands and Allan Albao, survived its second shootout in a row after eliminating defending champion Manitou Forest Products in similar fashion in Tuesday’s semifinal.
