On top, but the underdog?
Coach of defending Challenge Cup champion Laurentians suggests his team is ‘still chasing Cross’
Even though his St. Lawrence team finished at the top of the Molson Challenge Cup standings for the first time in almost a decade and is the defending provincial senior men’s soccer champion, head coach Derek Strang isn’t casting the Labatt Laurentians as sure-fire favourites in the league’s playoff tournament next weekend.
In fact, Holy Cross Kirby Group is still the team to beat, contends Strang.
“We feel like we’re still chasing Cross and we’ve still got something to prove, as we did last year,” he said.
That’s when the Crusaders finished first overall in the 2016 regular season, but lost twice in the playoffs — including a semifinal setback to the Laurentians that was decided on penalty kicks — allowing third-place St. Lawrence to prevail in the end.
This year, it was St. Lawrence that topped the league table for most of the season, with Holy Cross playing catch-up most of the way after a slow start that saw the Crusaders go winless in their first five games.
But Strang figures Holy Cross was realistically the circuit’s strongest team after posting its first victory on June 11, one which, coincidentally, came against St. Lawrence.
The Crusaders (13-5-5) wound up in second place, seven points behind the Laurentians (164-3). That sets up a match-up between the two arch-rivals on Friday at King George V Park in St. John’s, as the Page playoffs open with the 1-vs-2 game.
The victor will advance straight to the tournament final on Sunday, Sept. 3, while the loser will have to play in a Saturday, Sept. 2 semifinal against the winner of the other Page playoff game, featuring thirdplace Mount Pearl First Choice
Haircutters and fourth-place Feildians Ernst and Young.
Whichever team emerges from the Labour Day weekend as provincial men’s champion will represent Newfoundland and Labrador at the national Challenge Cup in Surrey, B.C., Oct. 4-9. For the last 12 years, that team has been either Holy Cross or St. Lawrence, with each side doing it six times.
Even though St. Lawrence took the provincial title by travelling the long route in 2016 — recording wins in the 3-4 game, semifinal and the final against Mount Pearl — Strang says his side is determined to take the
shorter path this time.
“It’s difficult if you lose that first game and know that you have to play three. We did it last year, but very rarely has it been done,” he said.
Despite the Laurentians’ superlative record this year, Strang still describes the season as having been “up and down” for Big Blue.
“We played really well at times, but some other games, you know, not so well. I think that always comes down to the amount of time we get to train together,” he said of his side, which has the majority of its players living in the St. John’s
metro area, four hours from St. Lawrence.
Practice shortfalls aside, the Laurentians put up some impressive numbers, scoring 47 time, just three fewer than Holy Cross, and allowing only 12 tallies in 23 games, easily producing the league’s best goals for/ against differential.
Strang is particularly pleased with his team’s defensive performance, although even there, he is not totally satisfied.
“You can’t legislate goals, but players can cover area and work hard and work smart,” he said. “That’s what’s always going to win us games and that’s what’s always going to win a championship.”
Offensively, the team will look to Stefan Slaney, who led the team with 11 goals, but will also looks to the likes of Sean Drew and young Brent Hennebury, who each had eight markers on the season.
Hennebury earned praise from Strang, who said the 17-year-old showed added confidence this summer after scoring the Challenge Cup championship winner in extra time against Mount Pearl last year and adding another gamewinning goal at nationals.
“This year you could see right from the beginning he was more prepared to play and wanted to play. He was stronger and smarter,” Strang said.
“We feel like we’re still chasing Cross and we’ve still got something to prove, as we did last year,” St. Lawrence Laurentians head coach Derek Strang