The early SDSSAA Division II soccer final (girls) unraveled right from the start on Tuesday.
And while the boys gold medal game held drama into the second half, that had all but dissipated by the 50 minute mark as both the Lasalle Lancers (girls) and the Lively Hawks (boys) walked off with comfortable victories on the final day of SDSSAA action for the 2024-2025 season.
A 2-0 loss to the Lively Hawks in their season opener back on April 30th pretty much guaranteed that the Lancers would not enter the final as an over-confident lot - but nothing prepared them for the seven goal first half onslaught they unleashed Tuesday afternoon at the James Jerome Sports Complex.
Isabelle Roy and Kaylee Vaillancourt drilled three goals apiece, with Caitlyn Connors netting the remaining tally.
The majority of the Lasalle strikes came courtesy of solid teamwork, the ball moving swiftly and efficiently from the back-end defenders, through the midfield and finally to Roy and Vaillancourt, consummate finishers.
"We wanted to make sure that the communication was up with the girls, definitely," noted Lancers head coach Stephanie Lalonde-Robichaud, earning her second banner since taking on this team four years ago.
"There was a lot of passing and just being there for each other, being positive if something happened."
The game stood in stark contrast to the 4-2 win that Lasalle recorded one day earlier in the semi-finals over the Champlain Requins. Isabelle Roy again paced the attack with a pair of tallies, but was also joined on the scoresheet by fellow club talent Kaylee Vaillancourt and Lucy Brouse.
Marissa MacLean and Sophie Leveillé replied in a losing cause for Champlain.
Despite the presence of a top-end scorer on her team, Lalonde-Robichaud understood well that a one-man unit (or one-woman unit) does not work well on a pitch flooded with 22 bodies - a concept that her best players shared, right from the start.
"It just comes down to being a team player," said the coach. "If you're at the top of your game and you are a competitive player, you know that it's not all about you. Soccer is a team sport."
"When you focus on that team part, everything else just comes together easily."
For one half of play in the boys final, things were not coming together easily for the Lively Hawks.
They faced 1-0 deficit thanks to a penalty shot goal from Mathy Obiang of the Sacré-Coeur Griffons - but that disadvantage did not last long into the second half.
Less than a minute in, Alex Campbell pulled the Hawks even and by the time the final whistled sounded, Cameron MacIntosh had converted a pair of PKs, joined on the scoresheet by Hunter Currie and Kadin Broomhead as Lively grounded the Griffons 5-1 to earn SDSSAA gold.
"We had to come out harder," said Campbell, alluding to the half-time message that worked wonders. "We didn't put enough pressure in the first half."
Any momentum that Sacré-Coeur carried with them from an encouraging first 40 minutes of play was stolen by the Black and Gold quite quickly.
"It was a nice play, right at the start of the half," suggested Campbell, recalling his goal that got the ball rolling - so to speak. "There was a nice pass in the box and I just one-timed it and scored."
And with that, high-school sports on a local level are a wrap for this year, though the St Charles College Cardinals baseball team will play for a medal this week at their OFSAA Championships in London.
