Emmanuel Christian captures D4 girls’ soccer honours
FERGUS – A goal late in the second half lifted the Emmanuel Christian Eagles to the District 4 high school girls’ soccer title in Tuesday’s championship match at Victoria Park in Fergus.
The goal gave the Eagles a 5-4 victory over the Erin Raiders in the closely-fought contest.
The Eagles and Raiders had finished the regular season in the top two positions and were the only squads in the five-team loop with records above the .500 winning percentage mark.
Emmanuel Christian had finished first at 3-0-1, the tie coming in a match with the third-place Westside Thunder. Erin was second at 3-1-0 while Westside finished at 1-1-2.
The Raiders struck first in the final on a break about 10 minutes in before the Eagles got their shooting down, especially their shots from long range.
Emmanuel Christian scored three times on long-distance shots that dropped into the net and led 4-2 at halftime.
However, Erin wasn’t about to throw in the towel early. The Raiders battled back to tie it with a pair of goals in the second half before Emmanuel Christian won it on another long shot.
Hanna VanSydenborg scored twice for the Eagles while single goals were netted by Tiffany Bouwers, Robyn DeJonge and Courtney VanLuik.
Charlotte Cuthbertson had a pair of goals for the Raiders while Sarah Davis and Danica Smith tallied once apiece.
The championship win was Emmanuel Christian’s first since 2018 and fourth overall.
With the win Emmanuel Christian advances to the CWOSSA A girls’ soccer tournament at Delhi June 1. Top two teams in that tournament are to move on to the OFSAA provincial high school A championship tournament at London June 8 to 10.
- Guelph Sports Journal