The Lower Island girls’ high school soccer Ryan Cup quarter-finals were held Thursday afternoon. Just to state that as a fact, after two dark seasons, was a victory for all teams.
Class of 2021 athletes in spring sports had their entire Grade 11-12 high school sporting careers wiped out by the pandemic. Class of 2022 athletes will at least get to play their Grade 12 season after the brutal blow suffered by their immediate predecessors.
“It’s fantastic to get back to it and you could see and watch the enthusiasm the players brought to this season,” said Lower Island girls’ high school soccer commissioner Jackie Cunningham.
“We had 17 teams back at it and they were absolutely thrilled to be doing so.”
And in the long shadow cast by an historic achievement for Canadian women’s soccer with the Olympic gold medal last summer in Tokyo.
“It has made a big impact on girls’ soccer in he country, the testament of which was the passion and joy felt when Canada played at Starlight Stadium [against Nigeria this spring as part of the Olympic gold-medal celebration tour],” said Cunningham.
On the whole, there has been a great deal of symbolic sunshine on what has otherwise been a soggy season in terms of weather. But nobody’s complaining. They are just happy to be playing, rain or shine.
On the pitch, the top-ranked St. Michaels University School Blue Jags defeated the No. 8 Glenlyon Norfolk School Griffins 1-0 in the Ryan Cup quarter-finals at the UVic turf fields as the Blue Jags, led by striker Breanne McLeish, continued their strong season.
“We put a lot of emphasis on clean sheets at the back, complemented by a powerful punch up front,” said Cunningham, who is also SMUS junior team head coach and Jags senior team assistant coach to Nikki Kaufman.
Players are sometimes overloaded this time of season but the Blue Jags have thrived.
“A lot of players are double dipping and it can be a tricky piece with many of these players also involved in playoffs with their club teams,” noted Cunningham.
In the other Ryan Cup quarter-finals, the No. 2 Reynolds Roadrunners defeated No. 7 Stelly’s Stingers 3-1 and the No. 5 Claremont Spartans blanked No. 4 Lambrick Park Pride 1-0. The Oak Bay Breakers stepped over the Belmont Bulldogs 1-0 by default.
The Ryan Cup semifinals are Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. at UVic with SMUS playing Claremont in one game and Reynolds meeting Oak Bay in the other. The championship game is next Thursday at 4:45 p.m. at Starlight Stadium in Langford.
The Ryan Shield quarter-finals were held Tuesday and featured the top-ranked Royal Bay Ravens with a bye, No. 2 Edward Milne, No. 3 Victor Brodeur, No. 4 St. Andrew’s Sabres, No. 5 Parkland Panthers, No. 6 Spectrum and No. 7 St. Margaret’s.
The quarter-finals were Thursday with Royal Bay playing St. Andrew’s and Victor Brodeur meeting Edward Milne. The Shield final is next Thursday at a venue to be announced.
The Island championships follow with the Triple-A on May 16-17 at Nanaimo District Secondary School, Double A on May 16-17 at SMUS and Single-A on May 9-10 in Duncan.
The B.C. championships run June 2-4 with the Triple-A in Surrey, Double-A in Burnaby and Single-A in Langley.
