Jason Kerr
Daily Herald
The St. Mary Marauders ran into a buzz saw at high school soccer provincials, and just missed out on a bronze medal on Saturday, Oct. 25.
The Marauders fell 4-1 to Campbell Collegiate out of Regina in the Bronze Medal Game at Saskatchewan Boys High School Soccer Provincials in Prince Albert. St. Mary coach Brenner Holash gave Campbell full credit for their win.
“They had a real quality striker who was tough to handle,” Holash said. “We made some adjustments, and he was just better on the day. There’s not much you can do when you run into that kind of a player.”
St. Mary’s Victor Ilesanmi scored the only goal of the first half, giving the Marauders a 1-0 lead after 45 minutes. However, Campbell rallied for four goals in the second half, including a hat trick from Luke Mrazek.
Despite the loss, Holash said he was proud of how the Marauders played in the tournament.
St. Mary opened with a 1-0 win over Regina’s LeBoldus Catholic High School to advance to the semi-finals. There, the Marauders lost 3-1 to Centennial out of Saskatoon, setting up a bronze medal match with Campbell.
“Our guys played hard in every game,” Holash said. “All the coaches are proud of their efforts. (It’s) not the result that we wanted, but we kept our head up the whole tournament. I think we can be proud of the way we played on the field.”
St. Joseph out of Saskatoon defeated Centennial 1-0 in the Gold Medal Game. On the other side of the bracket, Swift Current defeated LeBoldus 4-1 in the Consulation Final.
Most of the eight team tournament was played at Kinsmen Park, with two consolation games at Prime Minister’s Park. Holash said it was great to have such a high quality tournament in Prince Albert.
“Soccer has always been a big sport in the city,” he said. “It’s always been a way … to build community through our youth. Having an event like this here was nice to showcase our facilities, and also the quality of the soccer that we have in PA.”
The girls provincial tournament was held in Saskatoon the same weekend. Carlton and St. Mary both sent teams to the competition.
Carlton lost their opener to Miller High School out of Regina, then lost to Swift Current in the consolation final. St. Mary defeated O’Neill out of Regina 2-1 in their opener, then lost to St. Joseph out of Saskatoon in the semi-finals. The Marauder girls lost 9-0 to Holy Cross in the Bronze Medal game.
@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca
