Snake bit no more. The Holy Trinity Academy Knights downed their nemeses the Cochrane Cobras 2-1 to capture the senior girls soccer South Central zone banner in a thrilling final Saturday at Riverside Park. “It felt so good,” Knights co-captain Lauren Sinclair said. “We were really hyped before the game, this is our big game of the season, we just wanted to beat [Cochrane].” Sinclair, fellow co-captain Lucy Mundy and the Knights got a giant albatross off their collective neck. The Cobras had beat the Knights in the past two zone finals. Wait until next year, turned out to be this year. “We have a really strong team this year and I think we all knew this was our year to win,” Mundy said. “But we still had to put in some hard work – it was hard, but we got it in the end.” Playing the surprising mongoose for the Knights was Davyda Bedard, who played goalie in the final due to an injury to all-star keeper Andrea Lafont, who watched the final with a leg brace on. “I played [keeper] maybe two or three years ago – it’s been a long time,” Bedard said. “Because I was the only player who played goal before, they kind of just threw me in there.” It was like throwing a life-preserver to an all-ready strong swimmer. Bedard kept the Cobras off the scoreboard when she tipped a laser off a Cobra penalty kick from near the corner over the net near the end of the first half. “The only thing that was going through my mind was I have to keep it out – I just had to use my height as an advantage,” Bedard said. “I felt a little intimidated at first because at zones we have lost to them in the past.” She also got some big help. Defender Tristin Tate – a usual forward - kicked the ball out from in front of the net with a striking Cobra coming near after Bedard had made the save to keep the ball out of the webbing. The Cobras had possession for much of the opening minutes of the first half. But it was the Knights who struck first when Mundy dribbled the ball down the sideline and then made a perfect pass to Kyleigh van Oirschot, who booted the ball past a defender and the Cochrane keeper to make it 1-0, 20 minutes into the game. “I took it past two players and I could have shot but I saw Kyleigh so I chipped over the goalie to Kyleigh so she could put it in,” said Mundy. HTA upped its lead to 2-0 early in the second half on a beautiful goal by Olivia Kranjcec. “She is so fast and a skillful player,” Mundy said. “She got around two players and was able to put it away in the end.” Mundy had the best feet in the South Central zone last week – she was also third in the 5,000m Senior girls at cross-country zones on Oct. 10. The multiple zone champions didn’t roll over. Cobra captain Daphne Hayes, the Golden Boot recipient for most goals at zones, kicked a rope from in front of the net to beat Bedard and cut the lead to 2-1. The Knights were able to stave off the Cochrane attack in the final 13 minutes to give HTA its zone title. Much to the relief of coach Peter Mundy. “We knew we had a strong team this year and had a good chance – we put more goals in the net today than they did,” said the gaffer, who coached HTA to the silver medal in 2017. “I think we gave up two goals at the tournament. Our defence was rock solid and let’s face it, we have some pretty good forwards as well. “I’m a lucky coach.” Cobras coach Carolyn McLeod wasn’t surprised to come up against a powerful HTA squad. “We knew they would be strong, they have a lot of Tier I girls,” McLeod said. “There is a lot of organization [in their play].” See Soccer She said the Cobras couldn’t keep the pressure on. “We had some key injuries and weren’t able to get on the step right away,” McLeod said. “We picked it up in the second half, but we ran out of gas. Our girls played their hearts out.” The Knights went undefeated in the tournament. The Foothills Falcons finished sixth at zones, losing to the Canmore Crusaders in the fifth-place game. The Knights will now play for the FAC league championship this week. The HTA Knights are, Andrea Lafont, Tristin Tate, Olivia Kranjcec, Brielle Masse, Mackenzie Dopf, Brooklyn Duncan, Kyleigh van Oirschot, Lauren Sinclair, Lucy Mundy, Emily Ostafichuk, Holly Stiel, Abbie Wade, Genevieve Jeeva, Davyda Bedard and Jenna Tiedje.
