Throw a challenge the way of the Holy Trinity Academy Knights and they will usually knock it out of the park.
Entering the South Central Zone Senior Boys Soccer Championships as the third-seed in its group, the Knights turned a few heads in advancing to the playoff round and finishing fourth at the competition in Canmore on June 3-4.
“Les (co-coach Les Giraudier) and I could not have been prouder of our men and of the season they’ve had,” said Knights co-coach Tarik Misho. “We surprised everyone at zones when we made the semis. We accomplished some important objectives by beating a team like Brooks and advancing to the next round.
“That’s a great positive for our team.”
The Knights opened zone play with a 7-5 loss to Cochrane as they nearly erased a 5-1 deficit at the half to steal a result from the Cobras.
HTA rebounded with a 7-1 victory over the Foothills Composite Falcons to keep their hopes of playing for a medal alive.
Needing a win to advance to the semifinal, the Knights rose up for their best performance of the season in edging the St. Joseph’s Crusaders 3-1 to earn the second playoff seed out of Pool B.
The team’s play went sideways in the playoffs. The Knights were blanked for the first time all season in a 6-0 loss to Bow Valley.
A rematch with Cochrane with the bronze on the line would not go as planned. Following a strong first half, the Knights saw the contest quickly slip away in an 8-1 result.
“Losing 8-1 to Cochrane after having a dominant first half was not the way we had hoped to end our season,” the coach added. “Cochrane’s senior players showed the difference in experience when fighting back and dominating the game. Our team fell apart and we could not regain our focus.”
Striker Sebastian Nowak finished as the team’s top scorer with eight goals in the competition. Winger David Bowers chipped in with four tallies, midfielders Aria Kabganian and Tristan Masse each scored twice with newcomer to soccer Ethan Miller also scoring his first of the season.
“We as coaches learned a great deal about our team,” Misho said. “And we can only look forward to next season when these guys have one more year under their belts.”
Meanwhile, Foothills saved its best for first in the Rockies.
The Falcons held the dynamic Crusaders to a 1-0 result in its opener in Pool B.
“This was especially impressive,” said Falcons coach Megan Lacerte. “Because this team has always had a strong showing at zones.”
Despite the strong showing, the Falcons were not able to harness the momentum moving forward in the competition. The Comp suffered convincing losses to the Knights and Cobras before again finding its legs in a competitive final tilt.
Foothills wrapped up the competition with a 4-3 loss to the Strathmore Spartans, a team they had previously defeated in the Foothills Athletic Council, with its last line of defence doing much of the heavy lifting for the shorthanded Falcons.
“We are used to a full bench and being down so many players definitely affected us,” Lacerte said. “Strathmore’s passing was strong and accurate and two penalty shots made it a challenge for our goalie J.D. Douglas who played incredibly well in our final showing of the season.”
The loss placed the Falcons eighth overall in the zone tournament.
