Domino’s, Gillons’ capture titles

The men’s and women’s divisions of the local Borderland Soccer Association wrapped up their seasons Thursday evening at the St. Francis Sportsfields here.
On the women’s side, top-ranked Gillons’ trounced a shorthanded Taggs team 5-1 while Domino’s successfully defended their title with a 1-0 win over Pharmasave in men’s action.
Gillons’ came ready to play—storming out to a 3-0 lead early in the game.
Taggs responded with a goal in the second half, but the player differential between the two teams was evident as Gillons’ was able to roll out fresh subs while Taggs was forced to play everybody right until the final whistle.
“They came out with that one goal, so we figured we’d better step it up and came up with a couple more late,” Gillons’ player Sarah Gould said.
Gillons’ got the ultimate redemption for losing to Taggs in last year’s final, and made sure their undefeated record during the regular season (14-0-1) wouldn’t go for naught.
“We picked up a lot of younger girls [this year] who are going into Grade 9,” noted Claire Crichton. “They are going to be unreal by the time they get to our age.”
The four teams on the women’s side made for an easier playoff bracket, although Gould isn’t sure if it will stay that way unless participation improves.
“It’s fluctuated between three and four teams the last couple years, but the important thing is people coming out,” she stressed. “It’s hard to see games forfeited, and going to four teams we saw that a bit more and that’s disappointing.”
The men’s final, meanwhile, featured a much closer match-up between the top two teams from the regular season, but Domino’s was able to break the goose egg before the end of the first half on a goal by Steve Boileau.
“It was basically a tic-tac-toe play,” Domino’s Chris Faragher said of the winning effort. “Started back from the ‘D’ up and then Barker crossed it over, and Steve Boileau just got control of it and sunk it down there bottom left.
“It was a beaut.”
Domino’s had won all three regular-season games between the two teams (minus a forfeit loss late in the season), but had to hold off a late charge by Pharmasave in the second half.
“We had a few more subs than them, but they ran well and played hard,” Domino’s Andrew Sonnasinh said. “Of course, the outcome was really good for us, but it could have went either way.
“When the teams all show up, every team is pretty good [in this league], but Pharmasave and Emo are always tough,” he added.
The close win was a good way to cap off the season since a number of the players will be heading in different directions to resume their post-secondary schooling in the next couple of weeks.
“There is a Thunder Bay tournament at the end of August, but everyone is going back to school so it’d be pretty tough to get a good group together,” Faragher noted.
“Tyler Barker overcame some injuries at the end of the season and our goalie, Dan Paperechny, really stepped up in the final with a big shutout, so all around I’m really happy with the season,” he added.
Domino’s is in a unique position with a full-time coach on the sidelines, Sone Sonnasinh, and they feel it keeps their young team on the same page.
“He really carries our team,” Andrew Sonnasinh said of his dad. “He knows where to put players and he knows their skills and where to put them on the field.
“We notice when Sone isn’t here that guys want to play different positions and they want to go score goals, so it kind of gets hectic,” he admitted. “But for the most part, our team is pretty good about subbing and playing fair, but definitely having a coach is an advantage for us.”
Faragher agreed, and felt having an experienced guy on the sidelines is a necessary component for any young team.
“He [Sone] holds a lot of knowledge of the game of soccer,” Faragher said. “He has been to the highest level you can basically get to and he brought that to our team.”
It could be argued Pharmasave is in a similar position with Rick Chambers patrolling the goal—and that might suggest why both teams found themselves in the league final this year. Check out www.fortfrances.tv for more coverage.