The St. Anthony’s Sabres senior girls soccer team struck bronze as they hosted the South Central Zone tournament last weekend.
“Our girls didn’t back down, they were right there all along,” said coach Gavin Makse.
The Sabres came out strong in their first match of the weekend versus Strathmore. On Friday morning, they dominated play and left the field with a 3-0 win.
Round robin play continued Friday afternoon where they faced Bert Church of Airdrie. The Sabres were again strong and cruised to a 3-1 victory, securing a semifinal appearance.
The semifinals put the team up against Foothills Composite. The two teams met earlier this season and Foothills composite had the upper hand. This time the Sabres went up two goals quickly, and held on. With 25 minutes left, the score was tied at two. The Sabres’ goalie Kelsey Christal was injured, and the Sabres were without their senior goalie down the stretch.
“It was the best soccer we played all year, we really left it all on the field,” said Makse.
Foothills came back with two goals to win 4-2, putting the Sabres in the bronze medal match. Christal was able to play in that game.
“I really wanted her to play her last game,” said Makse
In the bronze medal match, Bert Church scored first from a corner kick, but the Sabres found resolve and Chelsea Murphy scored the tying goal.
“Once we got that goal to equalize, we were 1-1 at the half, we started to progress throughout the second half. We dominated the play it was just a matter of finishing,” said Makse.
Madison Colberg took advantage of one those opportunities scoring the winner late in the game.
The Sabres lose only five senior players this season, as they will graduate. So, the future looks strong for the team that has progressed each year on their way up.
“We are looking forward to next year, and we have our sights set on gold. The first year we went in we finished in eighth place, last year we tied for fifth, and this year we are third, so it has been continuous improvement for this team.”
