The sky was blue, but once again, the winners wore red and gold
Shootout win gives Holy Cross another Challenge Cup title, serves up an extra-tough result for Feildians
The game finished the same way it started, with an exciting penalty-shootout between capital-city sides.
But the result was different.
The Holy Cross Kirby Group Crusaders captured their third straight Johnson Insurance Challenge Cup Sunday, defeating their St. John’s rival, Feildians Stavanger Dental, 1-0 in the provincial men’s soccer championship final at Centennial Field in St. Lawrence.
After the game went scoreless through the 90-plus-minute regular session and 30 minutes of overtime play, the game went to penalty kicks, where Holy Cross held a 4-2 edge.
The championship tournament had started Friday with the 1-2 Page playoff game between Holy Cross, which topped the regular-season standings and second-place Feildians, That one had also gone past overtime, with the Double Blues downing the Crusaders 3-2 after fashioning a 3-1 victory in the penalty-kick shootout.
In Sunday’s final, goalkeepers Sam Hawco of Holy Cross and Braeden Sheppard of Feildians put in shutout performances for more than two hours of play. Hawco, who stopped two of four Feildians in the shootout, was named the playoff MVP.
Besides the outcome, the other noticeable difference between the Holy Cross-feildians matches was the weather. Wind and rain had been the order of the day Friday, but conditions were much more pleasant Sunday, with a game played under clear skies.
But while blue prevailed in the heavens, it wasn’t that way on the pitch Sunday as the Red and Gold of Holy Cross pulled out the win.
It is the 20th provincial Challenge Cup for Holy Cross since Newfoundland began participating in the national Challenge Cup competition in 1967, with nine of the titles coming in the last 11 years. The Crusaders also won a Newfoundland crown in 1950.
Sunday’s result also means that the provincial Challenge Cup champion since 1992 has been either Holy Cross or St. Lawrence, with two exceptions, in 2003 (Mount Pearl) and 2004 (Marystown).
Feildians is left with just one N.L. Challenge Cup title, that coming 50 years ago.
Provincial soccer Hall of Famer Ed Moyst, who had been part of that championship team in 1969, was on hand in St. Lawrence over the weekend, and he watched the Double Blues come oh, so close to repeating the feat a half century later.
Their win Friday had sent Feildians directly to Sunday’s final. Holy Cross, meanwhile, cashed in its double life and headed to a semifinal game Saturday, where it defeated the host St. Lawrence Laurentians 2-0. The Laurentians had won Friday’s 3-4 Page playoff, eliminating the C.B.S. That Pro Look Strikers in a 2-1 decision.
Holy Cross’s latest victory means it will represent Newfoundland and Labrador when metro St. John’s hosts the 2019 Toyota national championships Oct. 9-14.
The Newfoundland representatives will be in a pool with British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick.
Holy Cross has won three national medals, including gold in 1988, and the Crusaders came close to a podium finish last year, when they were fourth.
The Canadian men’s championship is being held in conjunction with the national women’s Jubilee Trophy competition, where this province will have two entries, local champion Holy Cross Avalon Ford and runner-up Feildians Greensleeves.
But while the local secondplace finisher has a place in this year’s Canadian women’s tournament, there is just one Newfoundland team on the men’s side. That’s because the Northwest Territories is sending an entry, making for an even 10 provincial and territorial teams in the male event.