Third time is a charm - and the Sacré-Coeur Griffons were fine with that.

After falling to the Lively Hawks in the SDSSAA Division 2 boys soccer gold medal encounter in both 2024 and 2025, coach Shawn Pharand and company finally changed the narrative this week.

An early goal from Nathan Estriplet was all that was needed as keeper Léorick Lafrenière recorded the shutout in a 1-0 Sacré-Coeur win over Lively Tuesday at the James Jerome Sports Complex.

The contest marked the second consecutive day that the Griffons had posted the clean sheet, edging the Hanmer Sabres by the same 1-0 score in semi-final play the previous day.

"We started with four defenders and then moved to five," noted three-year veteran Korey Armitage-Michaud, who welcomed both Nathan Estriplet and team sparkplug Mikkel Pharand to the back-line in successive games as Sacré-Coeur sought to protect their lead.

With no formal soccer background other than the very abbreviated high-school season, Armitage-Michaud noted some development in his play, even if at times opponents can drive him crazy.

"When I started (with soccer), I was sprinting around wherever," said the young man who is quite adept at heading a ball from distance. "Now I have a better idea of where to be positioned and what to do."

Most of the time.

"They were really good with teamwork," said Armitage-Michaud. "I had to run around a lot because they would pass it between themselves way too often. It was a little dizzying from time to time."

Rounding out the Sacré-Coeur gold-medal winning roster were Manoa Ralison, Antonio Moreira, Brayden Schryer, Anthony Youkep, Mathy Obiang, Chris Dahno, Samuele Marquis, Ricardo Moreira, Maximin Grah, Giovany Onana-Ebenda, Louis Youkep and Alexandre Crispin.

Meanwhile, goals were also at a premium in the girls final.

Not only did the St Benedict Bears and Marymount Regals contest the entirety of regulation time as well as a pair of ten-minute extra-time sessions without having anyone find the back of the net, but even the penalty kicks fully favoured the goaltenders.

Emma DeMarchi of St Benedict turned aside all five Marymount offerings that she faced while teammate Julia D’Angelo managed to slip the very first Bears' shot past Lila Ricker, just enough to give coach Adriano Simonato and company a 0-0 (1-0) championship game victory.

Like the Griffons, the Bears endured their second straight one goal game as Reece Fortier nailed a direct kick from about 25 yards out, lifting St Benedict to a 1-0 win over the Lockerby Vikings in their semi-final battle on Monday.

"I always shoot to the (top) left; that's my corner," said Fortier, who unfortunately was not able to attend the gold medal encounter, heading off to London to witness the graduation of her step-brother (Keenan Castle) from Western University.

"I just hope the angle is right and that it goes just where it went."

A member of the GSSC (Greater Sudbury Soccer Club) Impact since she was 14, Fortier benefitted from some valuable pre-scouting of the Vikes, even though the teams had not met in regular season play this spring.

"There are probably four girls (on Lockerby) that I play competitive soccer with so I knew it was going to be pretty challenging," said Fortier. "We were just hoping for the best."

The remainder of the SDSSAA championship team lineup is comprised of Kallie Smith, Kiana Oram, Alice Hallows, Elsa Blum, Fola Alabi, Lauren Bois, Chloe Cothill, Isabel Renelli, Aria Petroski, Kiera Ricco, Abigail Debruyn, Alina Bedoya, Emma Macauley, Allison Bois, Maggie Roman Johnson, Katriina Saari, Michaela Cole and Ayomide George.