The rubber match
KISHORA, Rural meet in final for third year in a row
Another chapter is about to be written in the rivalry between KISHORA and the Charlottetown Rural Raiders.
The two teams will meet in the P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior A Girls Soccer League gold-medal game for the third year in a row. The teams split the last two championships, with the rubber match set for UPEI on Saturday at 9 a.m.
“For our Grade 12s this year, we had our hearts broken when they were in Grade 10,” explained KISHORA head coach Donald Mulligan. “We had the game won and gave up the tying goal with five minutes left, and Rural beat us in overtime. Last year, we returned the favour. It will be fun.”
In the lone regular-season meeting, KISHORA, a team comprised of players from Kensington Intermediate-Senior High School and Kinkora Regional High School, prevailed 2-0 in the second game of the year.
KISHORA completed the regular season undefeated at 7-0 (won-lost) while Rural was in third place at 5-2.
“It’s been a long time since we played Rural,” added Mulligan. “We are looking forward to the challenge, and we feel we can compete with anyone.”
Mulligan said “resiliency” is one thing KISHORA has learned from playing in the past two provincial championship games. He said that was evident in the team’s semifinal game against Montague on Wednesday.
Despite dominating play in the first half, KISHORA held a slim 2-1 lead at the intermission, before going on to post a 5-2 win.
“We had many point-blank chances that didn’t go in for us in the first half,” admitted Mulligan, who added KISHORA needs to focus on playing its game. “The girls came out even harder in the second half and didn’t back down. They showed a tremendous amount of heart.”
Maggie Rae Dennis scored two unanswered second-half goals to lift the Raiders to a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Morell in the other semifinal to set up the much-anticipated rematch.
“It’s been a long time since we played Rural. We are looking forward to the challenge, and we feel we can compete with anyone.” KISHORA head coach Donald Mulligan