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24 Sports Oakville Beaver The Hawks' championship flight has finally been ground- www.aplushomes.ca Adam Campbell 905-844-4444 R E A L T YC O R P. B R O K E R A G E I N D E P E N D E N T LY O W N E D A N D O P E R AT E D Broker of Record SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2010 Loyola girls' soccer title run snapped by Bishop Reding By Steve LeBlanc METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP ed. With a fourth straight Halton AAA title -- as well as an unbeaten record -- hanging in the balance at Milton's Lions Sports Park yesterday (Tuesday), Loyola's senior girls' soccer team surrendered an early lead and was eclipsed 2-1 by the Bishop Reding Royals. Along with snapping a regional dynasty, the loss cost Loyola home-field advantage for tomorrow's (Thursday's) Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations tournament qualifier, which they'll now head to Hamilton for. Facing an opponent that had scored a whopping 17 goals in its last four games, the Hawks knew a single tally probably wasn't going to be enough to extend their championship run. Unfortunately, they figured right. "We'd only beat them (1-0) in the last 30 seconds of our regular-season game, so we knew it was going to be tough," said Loyola coach Kelly Rehel, whose girls had thumped Milton District 6-0 in the semifinals after a 5-0-1 regular season. "They (the Royals) were really good offensively today. They pushed us up a lot." Sporting several key players from last spring's title run, the high stakes-seasoned Hawks maintained their focus after falling behind 2-1 shortly after intermission -- with Reding's Navneet Madhar beating Nicole Garcia on a low straightaway shot from in close for her third goal of the playoffs. Loyola had at least half-a-dozen quality scoring chances -- most notably a bottom-shelf blast by Katie Fergus -- but just couldn't bury the equalizer. That was due in large part to a formidable performance by Royals goalkeeper Devan O'Connor, who stayed sharp after surrendering one early to Alana Boyczuk and did a great job cutting down the angles. GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER ROYAL TREATMENT: Bishop Reding keeper Devan O'Connor (in yellow) comes out of her net to grab the ball away from a few Loyola opponents yesterday (Tuesday) in Milton. O'Connor made several difficult saves to lead Reding to a 2-1 victory over the Hawks in the Halton senior girls' AAA soccer final. "We carried a lot of offensive momentum into this game, so I knew we could come back and win it," said O'Connor, who robbed Fergus and Nicole Lazaris twice each to preserve the narrow lead. Reding's Keessa Lynch evened things up within a few minutes of Boyczuk's deposit. Both were scored on wide-angle shots into the bottom left corner. The Hawks now hit the road tomorrow afternoon to take on a Hamilton rep for a berth to next week's 20-team OFSAA tournament in Windsor. SIDE BY SIDE: David Van Nostrand (right) of the T.A. Blakelock Tigers and Ben Neary of the Assumption Crusaders jostle for position during yesterday's Halton senior boys' AAA soccer final in Milton. Assumption scored twice in the opening five minutes en route to a 3-1 victory. GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER Slow start costs Blakelock in boys' soccer final By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Believing in oneself is typically an asset in sports, not a liability. But the confidence that the T.A. Blakelock Tigers picked up during their run to the Halton senior boys' AAA soccer final might have cost them when they finally reached the grand stage. Facing a team that they had defeated during the regular season, the Tigers appeared flat and complacent in the early going of yesterday's (Tuesday's) regional AAA championship game at Milton's Lions Sports Park. The Assumption Crusaders built a 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old and rode that momentum to a 3-1 win over Blakelock, which had upset the regular-sea- son champion Loyola Hawks 3-2 in last week's semifinal round. "This was the first time we thought we had a chance," said Blakelock coach Fraser Houston, "so it kind of rolled out that we were maybe a bit more confident than we should have been. "I could tell they looked a little too loose at the beginning of the day." There probably shouldn't have been reason for over-confidence on the Tigers' part, considering the late-season roll Assumption was on. The Crusaders' victory in the Halton final was their ninth consecutive win, and the late goal they surrendered yesterday to Blakelock's Lucas Jaques was the first marker they'd allowed during that stretch. "They've definitely come a long way," See Tigers page 26