GNS, Reynolds have Ryan Cup date
Lightning failed to strike twice in Ryan Cup senior girls’ soccer semifinal play on Thursday, but the first bolt sent more than enough shockwaves at Glenlyon Norfolk School.
The host GNS Gryphons toppled the Oak Bay Breakers 2-0 to advance to the Lower Island league championship game on Tuesday at the University of Victoria where they will face the Reynolds Roadrunners who downed the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags 1-0 in the second semi, also played at GNS.
Unlike Game 1, the double-A Blue Jags could not overcome the triple-A Roadrunners, but there were still rumblings being felt from the win by the underdog Gryphons.
“Obviously, we were facing a really strong opponent. I’m so happy for the girls, they’ve worked hard all year and they certainly deserved some success, so why not today,” said Gryphons coach Sonny Pawar.
“We take every game one at a time. We prep as well as we can and we just try to have a go. That’s what we did today and we got a couple of lucky bounces. Credit to Oak Bay, they’re a powerhouse and we hung in there with them today.” Did they ever. GNS actually controlled most of the play in the scoreless first half, in particular in the midfield. The best chance for the Gryphons came on a well served through ball from Chloe Korol-Filbey to Caitlin Ciceri, but it was well saved by charging Breakers keeper Judy Cristante.
Oak Bay also had its chances as Jayden Preston and Katie Muirhead both sent chances wide.
In the second half, Gryphons keeper Tori Windle made a spectacular one-handed save off Oak Bay’s Ariel Schellenberger. Preston then couldn’t finish off a cross from Cara Butler just minutes before Korol-Filbey struck for the first goal with a well placed ball from distance in the 51st minute.
Caitlin Forster-Coull them made it 2-0 on a long free kick that was misjudged.
“I’m so proud of everyone. We just fought so hard. We left it all out there,” said GNS’s Emily Forster-Coull. “Oak Bay is an amazing team, huge credit to them, but we definitely knocked it out of the park this time and that’s pretty amazing.”
The Gryphons finished first in the single-A/double-A division, while Oak Bay placed second in triple-A, setting up a bit of a David vs. Goliath scenario.
“I thought we had a good effort today, we played pretty well. We couldn’t ask for more, effort-wise, but we were missing three or four of our starters, so that didn’t help,” said Desi Leal of the Breakers. “We’ve been struggling a bit with our goal scoring.”
The was the case on this sunny afternoon.
Oak Bay lost its last regularseason game, 2-1 to Reynolds, which claimed first place in triple-A.
In the later semi, Anika Way provided the only offence needed for the Roadrunners against the Blue Jags.
“The girls are really excited about the chance to play for a city championship,” said Reynolds coach J.J. Atterbury of his team’s victory.
The case is the same for the Gryphons.
“It’s new territory for some of the girls, so it will be a matter of calming them down and trying to act like we’ve been there before,” said Pawar.