Mitch Calvert
It was déjà vu all over again in the finals of the men’s and women’s divisions of the Borderland Soccer Association last night at the Struchan L. H. Gilson Soccer Pitches.
Domino’s made it three championships in a row with a 2-0 victory over Emo.
A scoreless first-half yielded few scoring chances—minus a free kick from Domino’s Chris Faragher from outside the box that rang off the crossbar.
But the defending champs opened the floodgates to begin the second half with two quick goals by Mike Sande and Tyler Barker and defended well down the stretch to squash Emo’s hopes of a comeback.
“I remember coming down the wing, tried to beat a guy wide and then crossed it in,” Domino’s Tyler Barker said of Sande’s opening goal. “I think Tanner [Kaemingh] got a foot on it and it was just laying there and johnny-on-the-spot Sande was there for the easy put in.”
Barker added to the lead shortly after with a goal of his own.
“Kyle Herr pretty much ran from half all the way in, beat a few guys, and I just kinda jogged along and was in the right spot at the right time,” Barker said. “It was in the six-yard box, so anybody would’ve got it.”
Barker scored the lone goal in Domino’s 1-0 championship win over Emo in the 2007 final and assisted on Steve Boileau’s lone goal in a title win over Pharmasave last summer—seemingly showing a flare for the dramatic in big games.
“I guess I get psyched up, I’m a pretty competitive person,” Barker said. “I know it’s just a Fort Frances soccer game, but even [yesterday] morning when I woke up I was psyched up and thought about it throughout the day and just got focused for it.”
Meanwhile, Gillons’ made it two in a row with a convincing 7-0 win over Taggs in the women’s final.
Sam Bell netted three goals, Laureen Peters added two, and Caitlin Hyatt and Sara Roach notched singles.
Taggs battled in the early going, but a goal by Peters broke the goose egg and Gillons’ never looked back.
“It was a give-and-go with Sara Roach and I down the field, and she set up me up perfectly for a one-timer straight in the middle,” Peters explained.
Gillons’ led 2-0 at the half and blew things wide open in the second-half with five unanswered goals to coast to victory. The defending champs faced some adversity from Taggs through the regular season, but Gillons’ raised their game over the last couple weeks and Taggs wasn’t able to match it.
“We have a good core that’s carried on throughout the years, so that helps when you’ve played together so long,” Peters said of Gillons’ success. “We’ve also kept on adding younger ones who have come up and done great learning the system we’re trying to play.
“They are running hard and fitting in great, and we gelled near the end which was perfect,” Peters added.
