With seniors sidelined for bronze-medal match, Sabres make school history at provincials

The West Zone (city) and Okanagan champion Sabres cruised to a 4-0 victory over LV Rogers of Nelson in their round-robin opener last Thursday, but were in tough against Collingwood of West Vancouver later that day.

Tied at 3-3, the match went to a shootout, in which the Sabres’ goalkeeper, Keira Fitzmaurice, shot sixth for Sa-Hali, unleashing a laser that hit the cross bar and went in to secure a 4-3 victory.

“I just blocked everything out,” Fitzmaurice said of the pressure that accompanied the long walk to the spot. “I kind of just black out in those moments and go for it.”

Added Bartucci: “Nothing better than a bar-down goal to win the shootout. And, it was our goalie. And, it was a five-year senior. The story wrote itself.”

The Sabres doubled Brookswood 4-2 on Friday to wrap round-robin play and secure their spot in the playoffs.

Later Friday, Mark Isfeld of Courtenay vanquished Sa-Hali 4-0 in the semifinal round.

A significant problem loomed for the Sabres – the bronze-medal match took place on the same day as their school’s graduation festivities.

Sa-Hali’s seniors were sidelined.

“We took a limo to grad and in the limo we were watching it on our phones,” Grade 12 Sabre Kirsten Conroy said. “At grad right before it started, we heard they won 1-0 and we were all cheering. It was amazing.”

Isfeld edged Windsor of North Vancouver 2-1 in the gold medal game to claim the AA provincial title.

The single A, AA and AAA B.C. School Sports Girls Soccer championships were co-hosted by Sa-Hali, St. Ann’s Academy and Kelowna secondary last weekend on Mac Isle, with 48 teams in attendance.

More than 30 student volunteers helped to run the event.

St. Ann’s placed fourth in the single A tournament. Westsyde finished 12th and Valleyview placed 13th in the AA tournament.

by Marty Hastings

With seniors sidelined for bronze-medal match, Sabres make school history at provincials

Our Community