After a challenging regular season schedule comprised of games against the top 3A talent in the province, the Sacred Heart Lady Saints soccer team showed the dividends of the difficult schedule paid off with a walk in the park into the 2A provincial tournament on Saturday.
The Saints won their qualifying game handily against the Yorkton Regional with a blowout 11-1 win in the morning to lock up a birth in the provincials and give the team a chance to improve their seeding with a regional title. In the final the Saints came across Humboldt, who like the Saints had little path of resistance in their opening game running through Balgonie in a lopsided affair.
In the final the Saints once again dominated play as they won 9-1 over Humboldt to take the regional gold and to once again advance to the SHSAA 2A provincial tournament. Coach Jeanne Fetsch credited the teams success this weekend to the "Come out to win," attitude the girls brought to their two games and says she was impressed with the girls effort as she has been all season.
Fetsch notes that while they don't know where they will be seeded in the tournament they should be a top seed, but will have strong competition for the gold in Saskatoon's Bishop Mahoney and Notre Dame. Bishop Mahoney and Notre Dame have played in the last 2A finals with the Saskatoon side winning both games and will be attempting a three peat in Saskatoon this weekend. The Saints will be expecting a gold and if not at least a medal after a strong performance against many of the top schools in the province and a schedule that included mostly 3A and top 2A competition that saw the Saints post a winning record amongst those teams.
With a talented side that has many players from the successful undefeated YUFC girls program from last winter and this summer, the Saints have a squad that knows what it takes to win and is experienced in high pressure situations. The Saints will be hoping to lean on their experience and their hard working style to bring a provincial banner back to Yorkton and add to what has been a dominant era in Sacred Heart soccer.
