Humberside Collegiate Huskies take gold in OFSAA girls soccer

This was on the heels of a dominant season in its Toronto District School Board (TDSB) league, following up a 5-0 regular season record with four straight playoff wins en route to both its south division championship as well as the TDSB triple-A city championship – all the while conceding just one goal.

The Huskies won the gold medal game at Fort William Stadium 3-0 over St. Michael High School from Niagara Falls, breaking open a scoreless draw at the half.

Soraya El-Houni had two goals while Jenny Wolevor added a single for the Huskies.

The Huskies won the semifinal game over St. Roch CSS from Brampton 4-0 (Erin Locke, Alex Korroros, Talia Merino-Sierra and Soraya El-Houni); and the quarterfinal game over North York’s Senator O’Connor 3-0 (Jenny Wolever 2, Suzy Purdy).

"We played really hard in that semifinal game and then they came out kind of flat in the finals," said Joanne Loewen, the head of Girls’ Health and Physical Education at Humberside Collegiate and the team coach.

They were still dominant, she said, but with no goals to show for it at the half.

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• Dec 31, 1969
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"We scored within the first minute of the second half and we didn’t look back from that point on," she said.

In the preliminary round, the Huskies earned three wins (2-1 over St. Michael CSS from Bolton, 3-1 over Bishop Ryan CSS from Hannon and 6-2 over host St. Ignatius HS) and one tie (1-1 vs. Parkside CI from St. Thomas).

Loewen had a lot of praise for her players which can basically be summed up by her first few words: "they are an amazing group of girls ..."

The strength of team, she said, is not in its star power but that "there’s just so much depth."

She did, however, single out Wolever, despite being outsized by most of her opponents, as "a dominant player ... she’s a game changer."

Other than that, she said "I’ve got a lot of girls that are hockey players ... they play rep hockey. And they had to give up their soccer careers for hockey. But this team allows them to continue to play soccer."

The preliminary round actually stands out against the grain with Humberside giving up five goals in four games including their only tie of the season), but, with no disrespect intended to the opposition, it was also strategic. In such a tournament format (seven games in three days), it’s no secret that successful teams, such as Humberside, will use players strategically during the preliminary round to be better prepared during the do-or-die playoff round (for instance, the tie happened after the team had already guaranteed itself first place in their pool).

"By the time we got through round robin, we were very well rested," assured Loewen.

High school sports are always cyclical with seniors graduating every year, but Loewen feels a particularly strong Grade 11 cohort should keep the school competitive next season.

"I figure we have one more year and then I don’t know," she said.

As to whether the school should compete up a level in 4-A as opposed to 3-A (it’s determined by school size with the proviso that smaller schools can compete up, if they so desire), Loewen had an interesting view. With more triple-A schools across the province, she believes it’s as competitive, if not more, than the 4-A division.

Players: Jenny Wolever, Erin Locke, Christina Woloszczuk, Caroline Serjeant, Sabrina Hempel, Miriam Yosie, Zoe Georgilis, Alex Korroros, Talia Merino-Sierra, Suzy Purdy, Rachel Shepherd, Sarah Hill, Annika Engholm, Emilia Silv, Soraya El-houni, Lauren Galek, Jackson Bennett, Sarah Ryner Lauren DiFelice and Bryn Powell.