Quick strikes just three minutes apart from Jules Litster and Nina LaFlamme broke open a tie game and led the Stelly’s Stingers to a resounding 6-1 victory over the Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons in Ryans Cup quarter-final play on Thursday.
LaFlamme finished with three goals on the day, while Frankie Chatwin added a pair for the Stingers, who move on to face the Belmont Bulldogs in the Lower Island senior girls championship semifinal on Tuesday at the University of Victoria.
Oak Bay blanked Reynolds 2-0 in Thursday’s other quarter-final and move on to tackle Lambrick Park on Tuesday. Both semifinals go at 3:45 p.m. with the winners battling for the Ryan Cup next Thursday.
“We’re excited to play Belmont again,” said Stelly’s coach Jackie Cunningham. “We lost a really close one to them during the season, giving up a late goal in a back-and-forth game. So we’re happy to get another crack at them.”
Diana Chkipov actually opened the scoring for Glenlyon, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence, just 12 minutes in. Her fabulous strike from outside the penalty area got over the outstretched arms of Stelly’s keeper Shavone Barchen-Hobson. The ball ricocheted off the crossbar and in, but it would be the only ball to get by the goalkeeper.
LaFlamme then evened it up in the 25th minute with her first as she gobbled up Ava Scott-Moncrief’s delicious cross, brought it down and beat Gryphons goalkeeper Farrah Newnham.
Litster and LaFlamme delivered in the 33rd and 36th minutes for a 3-1 lead at the half as Stelly’s turned it up a notch.
Chatwin’s outstanding left-footer from outside the box made it 4-1 in the 60th minute before LaFlamme capped her hat-trick goal. Chatwin then headed home Scott-Moncrief’s corner kick in the waning minutes.
Scott-Moncrief and LaFlamme certainly dictated most of the play on Glenlyon’s home pitch.
“She’s a delight to have back,” Cunningham said of Scott-Moncrief, who just returned from injury, and was in on almost every goal. “And Nina is lightning quick and tough to defend when she gets going.”
Alynn Dagg rattled a brilliant strike off the joint of the post/crossbar, and Cami Jara was also stopped in close by Newnham as the Stingers were relentless.
“I’ll give credit to Stelly’s, they played well,” Glenlyon coach Justin Parish. “We didn’t deal very well with their long ball. It caused us problems all day. Our first goal was very nice, but we sort of got a little casual and let them back in the game.”
The Gryphons, who won the UVic spring tournament two weeks ago, were without some key players due to injury.
“We don’t make any excuses. We didn’t deal with their physicality or their long balls, so we didn’t deserve to win,” said Parish.
CORNER KICKS: Stelly’s junior girls defeated Reynolds 1-0 on a goal by Kiara Kilbet on Thursday to claim the city championship for a second straight season.
