By Dan Plouffe
They entered the competition as the top seed, but there was no way the Louis-Riel Rebelles were favourites at the June 6-8 OFSAA girls’ soccer championships. Not when they had no substitutes with the minimum 11 players, no goalkeeper, and the task of playing seven games in three days if they wanted to go all the way.
For a variety of reasons – a few had school or family commitments, more were busy with their club or provincial soccer teams, and a handful of others had camps in other sports – many of the regular Rebelles soccer team members couldn’t attend the three-day event in Windsor.
“The girls gave it everything they had,” says Matthieu Bazinet, Louis-Riel’s coach along with Yuuki Chartrand. “We had several injuries by the end of the tournament, so the girls were literally warriors. They got up and fought since they knew they didn’t have any subs.”
The Rebelles won their first, second and fourth games by 5-3, 3-0 and 4-0 scores, with a 1-0 loss in between. Without a natural goalkeeper available, Louis-Riel tried several players in net. First up was striker Kaitlyn Ball, the leading scorer for the West Ottawa Warriors Ontario Youth Soccer League team, for the first three games.
Then Naomi Bianco stepped in for the fourth game onwards. She allowed just one goal in each playoff contest as the Rebelles progressed through the quarter-finals with a 4-1 victory, the semi-finals with a 2-1 triumph, and then into penalty kicks of the championship game after playing to a 1-1 draw against Grimsby’s Blessed Trinity.
Bianco, a rookie centre-midfielder for the team, was too nervous to stay in nets for the shootout, Bazinet observed, so he asked for volunteers to jump in, and Bianca Brenning stepped up to the plate and was suddenly thrust into goal for the first time with the tournament on the line.
She got them seven shooters deep until Blessed Trinity finally prevailed, but the shine of a silver medal for their efforts quickly erased any anguish over the defeat for the Rebelles.
“The girls were drained. But they gave it all they had and it was a wonderful game. I’m really proud of them,” Bazinet emphasizes. “We were really, really impressed. The girls were really happy. We weren’t expecting to go that far in the competition for sure.”
Arielle Kabangu, last year’s OYSL U17 leading scorer for FC Capital United, and current Cap U U17 player Sydney St-Germain were the main sources of offence for Louis-Riel, scoring 10 and six goals apiece at the tournament, while Christine Rebus was “spectacular” playing defensive sweeper, Bazinet notes.
The team rallied around its desire to play “some really nice soccer” despite being shorthanded, and they wound up getting that in spades with their gutsy effort, their coach adds.
“It was an incredible experience for me and I’m sure the girls feel the same way,” Bazinet raves. “I’ve never been as proud to be a coach. I’ve never been as proud to be a teacher.”
5 from Ottawa reach 1/4s
The Nepean Knights went undefeated in pool play at the OFSAA ‘AAA’ girls’ soccer championships as well, but ran into the defending champions from Mississauga, Iona Catholic Secondary, in the quarter-finals, where they fell 3-1.
Ranked at the bottom of their pool, St. Pius came out on top of Group B with an undefeated record at the ‘AAA’ boys’ soccer championships, but wound up falling in the quarter-finals on penalty kicks.
Louis-Riel was also a quarter-finalist in boys’ ‘AA’ soccer, while Cairine Wilson and Franco-Ouest both reached the playoff round at the ‘AA’ girls’ soccer championships before falling in the quarter-finals – CW 5-4 on penalties.