Schools win “A” soccer titles
Teams adjust to unusual playing conditions in senior A girls’ soccer gold-medal game
CORNWALL – KISHORA regained the P.E.I. School Athletic Association (PEISAA) Senior A Girls Soccer League championship banner in less-than-ideal conditions on Saturday morning.
A combined team from Kensington Intermediate-Senior High (KISH) and Kinkora Regional High School (KRHS), KISHORA built a 2-0 lead en route to a 2-1 win over the Bluefield Team Two Bobcats in the gold-medal game. It was the first provincial title for KISHORA since 2016.
“It is amazing,” said Lydia Hamill, who was named KISHORA’s player of the game for her strong performance at the centre-mid position. “Being two small schools and being able to put a team together and win gold is awesome.”
A snow-covered turf pitch at the Terry Fox Sports Complex made things challenging for both teams with the cold and windy conditions resulting in slippery conditions.
“It was pretty fun to play in the snow,” said Hamill, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at KRHS from Searletown.
“I have never really done that before.”
Emma Arsenault gave KISHORA a 1-0 lead at the seven-minute mark, and Charlotte Schofield made it 2-0 in the 35th minute.
Margaret Ryan cut the deficit in half in the 40th minute.
KISHORA continued to attack and almost extended its lead in the second half but was unable to finish a couple of glorious chances.
“You have to keep pushing because if you do not, there could be just that one ball that goes through and you are tied 2-2,” said Hamill.
KEEPER INJURED
Bobcats head coach Pan Wendt said giving up an early goal and losing starting keeper Emma Stevenson to an injury on that score was a tough way to start. He praised the play of Destiny Francis, who replaced Stevenson, and he liked the resiliency his team showed battling back.
“It was 2-1, and we were still getting chances,” said Wendt. “The other team was strong, and it was the first game the whole season we did not have the majority of possession.
“To have to defend more was new to this team. They were unbeaten up to this point.”
Renee Arsenault earned Bluefield’s player-of-game honours.
KISH principal Donald Mulligan, who coaches KISHORA with Lorne Pidgeon, said there were a couple of big factors to the team’s success. One, he said, was KISHORA has been a “great ball-control team” all season.
“We have struggled to score, and that had been an issue the last couple of years,” said Mulligan. "We don’t have any natural goal-scorers, but when you can control the ball for 80 per cent of the time, good things usually happen.”
Another key to KISHORA’s
success, said Mulligan, was the play of fullbacks Brooke Gallant, Maleah Welton, Hannah Rogers, sweeper Bailey Butler and keeper Kylie MacLellan.
“Those girls shut down everybody’s attack all year long,” said Mulligan.
“The strength of our team is in the middle.
“Our player-of-the-game, Lydia Hamill, is dominant. We have the two Murphy girls, Ellen and Amelia, who have played the middle of the field or fullback, and they played out of position (Saturday).
“They are pretty dominant wherever they play, and the whole second half, Ellen Murphy, it seemed, had the ball on the outside wing and we just kept it out there the whole time. It was a good team effort.”