HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Defending champion Gloucester Celtic edged in Canadian men’s soccer final in penalty kicks

By Martin Cleary

A fourth Canadian men’s amateur soccer championship will have to wait another year for the Gloucester Celtic.

Despite showing their superiority in the first 80 minutes and holding a 1-0 lead, the Celtic surrendered a late second-half goal and were outscored 5-3 in deciding penalty kicks by host Holy Cross SC of St. John’s, which won its first national men’s title since 1988.

Holy Cross had a double celebration as its women’s side turned back CS Trident-Ouest de Quebec 2-1 to capture the Jubilee Trophy national championship.

“Not to take anything away from the Newfoundlanders, but sometimes the better team doesn’t win,” said Gloucester coach Matt Williams, after the Celtic returned home on Tuesday.

“(Celtic) was absolutely dominant. It was a hard, physical game and it was a raucous crowd. They scored late on one of their only chances and we lost on penalty kicks. It goes that way sometimes.”

Entering the national championship, Celtic was the defending men’s titleholder. Celtic also won in 2013 and earned the bronze medal in 2016.

Luca Piccioli, who was a standout player throughout the four games for Celtic, scored the opening goal of the game in the 32nd minute of the first half.

As the game moved into the final 10 minutes, Holy Cross controlled the ball in the Gloucester end and took advantage of a Celtic error in front of the net, which sparked a goal off a left-foot deflection to even the match.

When the game reached full time, the gold medal had to be decided on penalty kicks. A goaltending change was made by Celtic for the decisive kicks as penalty specialist Mitch Leclair replaced starter Anton Favre.

Holy Cross and Gloucester scored on each of their first three shots, including goals by Celtic’s Devyn Viegas, Marco Natoli and Olivier Babineau.

After Holy Cross pushed ahead 4-3, Piccioli was given the task of keeping the match even. But his powerful shot sailed over the top of the net. After stopping all four Gloucester penalty kicks, Holy Cross goalkeeper Thomas Pieroway connected for the fifth and deciding goal for the home team in front of almost 3,000 fans at King George V Park.

“That was tough,” Williams said about the silver-medal ending for Celtic. “I feel sorry for the kid (Piccioli). He hasn’t missed one all year. He was our MVP player all tournament. He has had a ton of goals and dominated games.

“I hold nothing against him. He’s a wonderful, wonderful human being.”

Gloucester automatically qualified for the final by winning all three games in Group A, outscoring Edmonton Wildcats 3-0, Conception Bay South Strikers FC 7-1 and Winnipeg’s NKMB Saints FC 3-0.

Celtic reached its third Canadian championship tournament in four years by winning its sixth career Ontario Cup last month.

CAPITALS, SEMINOLES REACH CANADIAN TOUCH FOOTBALL SEMIS

The Ottawa Capitals women’s team and the Ottawa Seminoles men’s side played well in the preliminary games at the Canadian touch football championships, but struggled in the playoffs.

The Capitals dropped their women’s AA/A semifinal to Toronto Storm 6-1, after winning its first playoff game 13-6 over Toronto YGCCM.

In pool play, the Capitals turned back four Toronto teams, the Vixens 40-6, the Wolfpack 21-7, the Rockets 12-6, and the Bullets 20-8.

The Seminoles opened strong defeating Hamilton Hooligans 29-12, Hamilton Bandits 27-12, and Edmonton Frost 18-12. But they fell 27-6 to Abbotsford Rebels in the first round of AA/A playoffs and 33-19 to Toronto Assassins in the A semifinal.

Ottawa Football team finished with a 1-5 record, losing to Hamilton Piranhas 33-12, Abbotsford Rebels 20-7, Niagara Mud Dogs 28-13 and Niagara Falls Replacements 34-12 in a preliminary B playoff, and Hamilton Bandits 22-12 in the CC championship game. Its only win was 12-0 over Markham Machine in the CC semifinal.

SHAHEER MIKHAIL HELPS CANADA PLACE 5TH AT WORLD TEAM TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP

Rideau Tennis Club’s Shaheer Mikhail won all three of his matches in the classification round as Canada placed fifth in the men’s 80 division at the International Tennis Federation masters world team championships in Bol, Brac Island, Croatia.

Canada placed first in its round-robin pool at 3-0 with wins over Spain, Germany and Switzerland, all by 2-1 scores. Mikhail didn’t play in either the singles or doubles matches.

In the quarterfinals, Australia edged Canada 2-1.

Canada finished the championships with a pair of decisive wins over Great Britain, 3-0, and Spain, 2-0, to finish in fifth place.

Mikhail defeated Great Britain’s Peter W. Bretherton 6-0, 6-3 and teamed with John Tibbits to turn aside Bretherton and Julian Tatum 6-3, 6-4.

In the match for fifth place, Mikhail put Canada ahead 1-0 by defeating Rogelio Losada Galan 6-3, 6-0.

OUA SOCCER PLAYOFFS START WITH DOUBLEHEADER AT CARLETON

It’s scheduled to be Soccer Night at Carleton on Wednesday as the Ravens women’s and men’s teams play in the opening round of the OUA playoffs.

Carleton will face the U Sports No. 3-ranked University of Ottawa Gee-Gees women at 6 p.m. In the second game of the doubleheader, the Ravens will face the Trent University Excalibur men in their OUA playoff opener at 8:15 p.m.

In its two women’s regular-season meetings, Carleton shaded Ottawa 3-2 and the second game was a 1-1 deadlock. The Carleton men’s team needed two second-half goals to tie Trent 3-3 in its only regular-season game.

Carleton and Ottawa had matching 8-3-1 regular-season records, which left them tied for fourth place with 25 points each.

The Ravens split a pair of shutout games to finish the regular season, blanking Toronto Metropolitan University Bold 6-0 and losing to co-pennant-winning Queen’s University Gaels 3-0.

Lauren Illman scored Carleton’s first three goals, while singles went to Mikayla Moser, Sydney Atwell and Ava Mills. Chloe Lachance-Soula had the two-save shutout.

The Gee-Gees ran past Royal Military College Paladins 9-0 as Sabrina Mangiaracina counted three of her four goals in a row and Gracie Somers contributed three goals. Clare Sun and Madison Clark had one goal apiece. Juliann Lacasse made two saves for the shutout.

In its final regular-season men’s game, third-place Carleton tied 1-1 with second-place Toronto Metropolitan. Luke Harrop scored at the 59th minute for the Ravens’ only goal.

OTTAWA, LAVAL MEETING IN 8TH STRAIGHT RSEQ WOMEN’S RUGBY FINAL

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees will meet Université Laval Rouge et Or this weekend for the eighth straight time in the RSEQ women’s rugby final.

In the playoff semifinals, the Gee-Gees travelled to Montreal and defeated the Concordia University Stingers 42-26, while Laval humbled the Université de Montréal Carabins 81-14.

Alysia Comtois and Ngozi Mosindi scored two tries each for the Gee-Gees, while Erica Osei and Camryn Holland added one try apiece. Claire Bennett kicked six converts.

Ottawa finished the regular season in second place at 5-1, while Laval earned the women’s rugby pennant at 6-0.

OUA FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PICTURE UNCLEAR

The final weekend of the OUA regular-season schedule will be filled with drama for the Carleton University Ravens and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Carleton, Ottawa and McMaster University Marauders are in a three-way tie for fifth place at 3-4 with the University of Guelph Gryphons and the York University Lions, a pair of 2-5 teams, aiming to win their final regular-season games to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The top seven teams make the playoffs with the league champion earning a bye into the semifinals on Nov. 1. Carleton will play at McMaster and Ottawa play host to the cellar-dwelling University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday.

Ottawa produced a 16-point fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to overcome host University of Windsor Lancers 30-24. Riley Hildebrandt, Derrick Garraud and Noah Avery scored the Gee-Gees’ touchdowns.

Gee-Gees quarterback Josh Janssen completed 36 of 50 passes for 400 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

Carleton was outscored 55-12 by the undefeated Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks, who share first place with the Western University Mustangs.

Keyshawn Reid ran six yards for the Carleton touchdown. Xavier Malone made 10 tackles and two assisted tackles, while Nathan Essomba-Alex notched eight tackles.

ALGONQUIN SOCCER PLAYOFF GAMES SET FOR WEDNESDAY

The Algonquin College Wolves men’s and women’s soccer teams will play the Fanshawe College Falcons at home in a pair of Ontario College Athletic Association playoff openers scheduled for Wednesday.

The men’s team finished second in the East Division at 9-1-0, after shading George Brown College Huskies on a pair of goals by Alex Basa.

Danika Mader, Samantha Jones and Cayla Latimer shared the offense as the Wolves women’s team blanked the Huskies 3-0 to finish in the East at 9-1 for second place.

3 LOCAL PLAYERS WIN PAN AM BRONZE WITH CANADA U18 SOFTBALL

Colton Lecuyer of Fitzroy Harbour, Bryce Rebertz of Arnprior and Cade Kuehl of Shawville contributed significantly to Canada winning the bronze medal at the U18 men’s Pan American softball championship in Bahia Blanca, Argentina.

Canada finished in a three-way tie for first place, but was ranked third, after applying the tiebreaker rules. In its final two games, Canada rallied for large deficits to defeat Venezuela 8-5 and 7-6.

Lecuyer had two home runs against Venezuela in pool play. Rebertz slugged a grand slam homer against Peru as well as a double and scored three runs against Mexico. Kuehl brought in a run against Argentina off a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded.

END NOTES

· Canada finished tied for 24th place at the world men’s amateur team golf championship in Singapore. Isaiah Ibit of Ottawa shared 81st place in the individual standings, after rounds of 75-70-80-73 for a 10-over-par 298.

· Gloucester Skating Club’s Reese Rose of Gananoque, ON, set three personal-best scores and tied for 21st place in her International Skating Union Junior Grand Prix debut in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She was 21st in the short program at 45.40 points and 20th in the free skate at 82.95 points for a career-best total of 128.35 points.