Sacred Heart High School (SHHS) boys soccer team won the 2A provincial soccer championship in dramatic fashion Saturday in Regina.
The Saints advanced to the four team provincial tournament on the basis of their second place finish at regionals the previous weekend.
Sacred Heart faced Regina Luther in the semi-final game. The Saints started slowly, scoring only one goal, off the boot of Alex Giannoulis, in the first half to lead 1-0 at half time.
SHHS exploded onto the field in the second half, blowing the game open with four goals to win the game 5-0.
Saints marksmen were Anthony Fetsch, Preston Liebrecht and Nathan Ruff who notched a pair of goals in the second half.
Jonathan Bell recorded the shut out for Sacred Heart.
The win advanced the Saints to the final against top seeded Saskatoon Evan Hardy who defeated Regina Miller 4-0 in the other semi final.
Sacred Heart lost to Evan Hardy 3-2 in the regional final the weekend before in Humboldt. The Saints were not terribly confident going into the final as the team was missing several key players in the game.
A scoreless first half saw both teams fail to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
Saints keeper Jonathan Bell came up big for the Saints on several occasions to hold the score at 0-0.
In the first five minutes of the?second half, an Evan Hardy striker took the ball on the right side past the defense and shot low to the bottom left corner of the net to give Evan Hardy a 1-0 lead.
The score remained 1-0 until the 89th minute of the game when Alex Giannoulis took a corner and following a scramble, David Falcetta, who had just come on, found the back of the net to tie the game, sending it into overtime which consisted of two 10 minute halves.
The first overtime half ended without either team scoring.
Two minutes into the?second overtime half, Anthony Fetsch took the ball up the center and while it looked like he might go to the net with the ball, Robert Okeny made an overlapping run on his right and called for the ball. Fetsch feathered a beautiful pass to Okeny who got past the defense and calmly shot the game winner into the right corner of the opposition net.
For the remaining eight minutes the Saints defense played tough and didn't allow a single goal.
Elias Giannoulis played an outstanding game on defense which was one of the main reasons the Saints only allowed one goal.
The Saints had the advantage of many of their players playing competitive club soccer.
They used their skill, the dedication to each other and the bonding they picked up from playing with each other for many many years to their full advantage to win the provincial championship.
