Taggs win women’s soccer title

Even a hat trick by Lindsay Roy of Curves couldn’t prevent Taggs from doing something that most people didn’t think they could do.
And that was win the women’s Borderland Soccer League crown.
“It’s pretty disappointing and it’s pretty unfortunate,” Roy lamented about her team’s 4-3 loss to Taggs in extra time Wednesday night.
Curves—the top seed in the playoffs—held a two-goal lead throughout most the game but collapsed in the final 15 minutes as the effects of playing two players short caught up to them.
“They’re a tough team. I suppose that if they had had their full team, it would’ve been even closer,” said Amy Ruff of Taggs, who netted the game-winner a minute into the extra time.
“It doesn’t get much closer than this, though, but it could’ve gone either way,” she added.
Taggs got possession to open the extra time and wasted little time in deciding the game as a well-placed ball by Rebecca Cornell, who had scored earlier in the game, found Ruff as she streaked towards the goal.
“I had the perfect pass and it would’ve been terrible to miss,” said Ruff. “I would’ve been equally pleased if it was somebody else.”
Taggs—the third-seeded team—had most of the scoring chances throughout the game with Ruff playing the right side, Cornell wreaking havoc in the middle, and Trista Barker controlling the left.
All three scored key goals for their team, with the other one coming from Sabrina Stoessinger. “I think my first goal ever,” she said.
“I’m ecstatic and it feels great. We’re not exactly the most skilled team but we give it our all,” noted Barker, whose side-winding goal came with five minutes left in regulation time to tie the game.
“It was just a mad scramble. I just managed to get my left foot on it and it hit the back of the mesh,” she added.
Curves were short two players throughout the game and even were late in arriving (the referee gives a 15-minute grace period for a team to field a minimum of seven players before calling a default).
Some of their best players were not able to make it because of conflicting schedules.
“We kind of had the mentality that, ‘Hey if they win, then that’s great,’” said Kari-Lynn Beckett of Curves.
“We’re not disappointed, though. I think that this was a tough game and after we got a two-goal lead, we kind of eased up on the ball,” she added. “We weren’t first getting to the ball and they came back and good for them.”
In related news, Gillons’ advanced to the men’s league final with a 4-1 win over Rainy River last night to take the two-game, total-goal semi-final series by a 7-1 margin.
Gillons’, the top-ranked team, will play Subway in the title game Sunday at 4 p.m. at the St. Francis Sportsfields.
Subway advanced after knocking off Taggs in their semi-final series Tuesday night.